For This Purpose
by Kainos Ktisis
Summary: For this purpose you were created. For this purpose you were allowed to live. For this purpose...you will die. AU InuKag
1. Prologue

A/N: Cursed Blessing is not getting itself written and I have so many ideas in my head that I feel like I'm gonna blow! Thus, have a begun another story. Heheh...Anyway, yeah, I know I'm a dork.

Disclaimer: Don't own Inuyasha. Simple as that.

Summary: She grew up a normal girl living a normal life. She was a good student—not the best, but still good. She was popular—not the most popular, but popular. She did just enough extracurricular activities as would be normal for a normal girl her age. In her free time, she found ways to express her boredom like everyone else.

Then, that all shattered when she found out that she was anything but normal. Normality is a luxury, a luxury that can no longer be afforded to her.

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE  
**

**Prologue**

Year 1, Month 1, Day 1

_The experiment was born today at 18:01. There were no birth complications and the host mother is doing fine as well. The babe is healthy and robust. Everything turned out the way we planned, right down to the exact shade of chocolate brown eyes. Judging from the smooth pregnancy and birth of the babe, this experiment should be a success. Now that the difficulty of development in the womb is over, we can monitor it as it grows._

_We are debating whether…_

...

Year 1, Month 2, Day 13

_The experiment has gone quite well thus far. It has grown at a normal rate and all bodily functions are healthy. The only oddity that we cannot seem to change is the color of its eyes. They were brown at birth, yet for some reason that we have yet to deduced, it eyes have turned into a bright cobalt blue. However, other than that irregularity, everything else seems to be perfectly normal._

_How strange that her eyes would change colors though. I wonder if it has something to do with…_

...

Year 1, Month 5, Day 8

_She learned how to talk today. We were a little concerned that it took her such a long time to speak, but now that she has learned, she won't stop! It's quite adorable, actually. We named her Kagome. I believe we will be ready to assimilate her into the real world quite soon._

_I am very excited about it._

_However, I'm a little worried about the finances for this experiment. I hear that a rival corporation is conducting an experiment…_

...

Year 2, Month 1, Day1

_Kagome is going to live with her "parents" from today on. I know this is not very professional, but I find that I've grown attached to her. She puts a smile on the face of everyone she meets. I know that I will be able to see her every month for the next year to monitor her, but I will surely miss having her around. Oh well. I just hope she adjusts alright to her new environment._

_Funding was cut again. It seems that…_

...

Year 5, Month 9, Day 22

_As much as I hate to say it, it now seems that this project has been a failure. Kagome has long passed the deadline when she was supposed to start displaying the characteristics we built into her. Of course, it can be said that we succeeded in creating a perfectly normal human being, but that was not the purpose of this project. The problem is that Kagome is too normal. We'll keep monitoring her, but I'm afraid that we can't keep this project going for long. Now that the Urasue Genetics Company has successfully created _it_, all government funding has been redirected to them. With a man like Naraku in charge…_

...

Year 16, Month 1, Day 1

_My company has folded. Of all the scientists who once worked on the Project, I'm the only one left who is still actively following up on Kagome. Of course her parents love her like their own child, but they have long ago given up on analyzing her scientifically. I understand their decision all too well. It must be hard._

_She's sure grown up now. I wonder if I should tell her for what purpose she was born. But…as much as I'd love to see her reach her full potential, I know the knowledge will only destroy her. No, I can't do that._

_It's time I give up as well. I'll let Kagome live her life like a normal child. She will grow up and integrate into society like a normal person. That's my only wish for her. I just…sincerely hope that her own body and mind will let her live in peace._

_Farewell Kagome, my child. You are destined for greatness. Perhaps one day…we'll meet and I could tell you all my aspirations for you. One day…I can open your eyes._

* * *

A/N: So, a bit on the short side and probably a tad confusing, but I assure you. All will be revealed in due time. Now as for how long "due time" is...hehe...


	2. An Everyday Girl

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter One: An Everyday Girl with a Not so Everyday…well, Day**

"Miss Higurashi! That is your fourth tardy this quarter, and it's only been two weeks in! I don't know what you've been doing at night lately"—Miss Matsuri winked at her with an amused twinkle in her eyes—"but you better shape up or else I'll have to give you a detention, young lady."

Kagome blushed deeply and indignantly as she bowed and replied, "I understand, Miss Matsuri."

"Good, now sit down."

Kagome made her way to the back of her room as several of her best friends giggled as she passed. She kicked one of them lightly, but she couldn't prevent the smile from appearing on her lips. Miss Matsuri was one of her favorite teachers and Kagome knew that she wasn't being serious. In fact, Miss Matsuri was one of the most liked teachers on the high school faculty. It resulted mostly from the fact that she was only a couple of years older than the students and many felt that they could relate to her and vice versa, Kagome especially. Ever since the first day she walked into her classroom, she had sensed something akin to relation in the young teacher. It was comfortable being around her and she was perhaps one of the few people she could really talk to.

She didn't mean to be late for class all the time, but ever since her parents decided that Kagome should get to school on her own, she'd seem to have run into every possible bad situation. First there was a car accident that blocked a major intersection that she had to cross on foot. Then the electricity went out sometime in the night to render her alarm clock useless. When she attempted to use the train instead of the bus, the train would be delayed for an indefinite period of time. When she used the bus instead of the train, the bus driver would always miss the school by about a half mile and Kagome would have to walk—and in some cases run—back to the school.

If she didn't know better, she would have thought that someone was trying to prevent her from arriving at school on time.

"Anyway, as I was saying earlier before Miss Higurashi decided to come to school," continued Miss Matsuri with a smile, "I need to remind all you seniors that the school year is not over yet. The threat of failing is still very much a possibility. I know it's tough with senioritis setting in and all that—trust me, I've had my fair share of problems—but please try and keep your grades up. Colleges and universities _will_ still look at grades in your senior year."

A couple of students muttered, "Yes, ma'am" but most others just fiddled with their pencils.

"Alrighty, with that said, let's get some learning in so I don't get fired. You're not the only ones that can't wait until summer comes around."

…

The rest of the day passed by like normal much in the same fashion that her life story passed.

If there was ever a perfect paradigm for the definition of normality, then Kagome Higurashi was it. She was your typical high school senior with above average—but not exceptional—grades who was well-liked by the general high school population but not extraordinarily popular. She was competent in many fields, but did not excel in any one area. She was your everyday girl with an everyday life. She didn't have any outrageous goals in life and she was very practical. She was pretty enough to catch the eyes of a respectable number of boys, but not outstandingly beautiful to dim the lights of other girls.

The only abnormal anything about her was the color of her eyes. Her bright cerulean eyes matched well with her midnight tresses, but it still stood out as her only truly defining feature.

Despite that one fact, she was about as normal as they get.

In fact, so normal was her life that she wasn't too surprised when she realized that a tall man dressed not so inconspicuously in long black clothes in the middle of spring was following her as she walked home from school. After all, everyone knows that when one's life is too normal, it is only normal for something abnormal to occur.

Kagome knew this fact, yet it didn't help to calm her heart as she tried to lose herself among a crowd of parents as students began to pour out of the nearby elementary school. However, despite her best efforts, the man still trailed a couple of meters behind her and even seemed to be gaining on her.

The wise thing to do in situations such as this would have been to stay in more densely concentrated areas so that she wouldn't get isolated with the stranger. However, like we have already established, Kagome was a very normal girl and, as thus, she did what seems to happen most of the time in situations similar to this. She turned into a nearby but unfamiliar area. It was eerily quiet on the street once she passed the school and she immediately regretted her poor decision to venture into an unknown part of town. The small homes with their white picket fences seemed friendly enough, to be sure, but the man following her did not and it was no comfort to know that there didn't seem to be anyone at home at this time of day.

She turned her head a little so that she could glance behind her at the man. However, as is typical, the man had disappeared when she turned to face the direction he should have been standing. Again, as is predictable, she turned back around to see that the man was standing not a foot from her, though she had no idea of how he had managed to do so. He sprayed something in her face before she had the chance to even make any coherent thoughts. The last thing she remembered seeing was a lock of silver hair falling free from the black beanie the man was wearing and a glimpse of molten gold as the world spun and she fell unconscious to the world.

…

Voices. She heard voices all around her. She tried to open her eyes but everything spun wildly as the strange sense of vertigo set in on her disoriented mind and she was forced to shut her eyes again. She listened in on the voices and wondered where she was.

_"I got the girl. What the hell do you want from me now?" _It was a rough voice, heavy with "street-talk" accents.

_"Shh…You'll wake her." _This one was deep and mellow, but ominous undertones laced his words.

_"You think I give a shit? I just want to get the hell out of here."_

_"Such a fool, as always. You don't know the makings of history even when it's before your eyes."_

_"All I know is that if I get caught, I'll be in deep shit."_

_"Then don't get caught."_

_"Damn you."_

_"I have been damned plenty of times already, thank you."_

A pause. There was a shuffle of clothes and footsteps as somebody neared where she was. A click, then bright light danced on the other side of her eyelids. Unable to bear it anymore, she peeked open her eyes to find a blinding light pointed in her face. Her eyes slowly adjusted as the sense of vertigo dissipated. There were two men. One of them smiled gently at her, but she immediately disliked his sly disposition. He seemed to be the type to ever be in the middle of some devious plot. The other barely even glanced at her, but she felt strangely drawn to the cascade of silver white hair that flowed in an untamed manner down his back and to the smoldering furnace captured within the turmoil in his eyes. It felt as if she had seen those same eyes before, but she couldn't remember when.

However, her thoughts were interrupted by the other man as he helped her to sit up.

"Welcome back, Kikyo. It's been a long time."

…

Kagome suddenly flinched awake when an electrical wire in the wall burst and sparked near her head. Her eyes flew open in alarm and she waited impatiently as they adjusted to the darkness. The only source of light seemed to be the flailing wire and, though she hated moving into the unknown, it appeared safer to move than to stay and wait for the wire to hit her and fry her brain.

"Hello?" she whispered weakly, her voice cracked and frightened. Nothing, not even an echo. In fact, she began to wonder whether she had spoken aloud because even she could not hear herself. It was almost as if the darkness absorbed the sound waves as it distorted her senses.

She sat in silence, uncertain as to what she should do, yet too afraid to explore. Suddenly, the wire fizzed one last time and emitted a bright flash of light that blinded her sensitive eyes before everything fell victim to darkness once again. She was left in the pitch black as even the wire had burned out. However, in that fraction of a second in which the wire burst, she had caught a glimpse of a large metallic-looking door set firmly in a wall of concrete.

She hugged her knees to her chest and really began to wonder what was to become of her.

…

Her alert brown eyes roamed around the dimly lit apartment but she always kept her peripheral vision trained on _him._ It was never a wise idea to turn ones back on a man such as he, after all.

"How long have I been…asleep this time?" she questioned, her voice devoid of emotion.

Naraku glanced up for a little bit before he resumed pouring the Hennessey into two cognac glasses. He slowly and deliberately took his time as he handed one to Kikyo and took a long sip from his own glass. "Nearly three years now."

"Already?" She arched a slender, delicate eyebrow in slight surprise, but it faded as soon as it had come. She did not stay surprised for very long. "It hadn't seemed like such a long time." She observed her glass and commented, "I'm still underage, you know."

Naraku edged a little closer as he murmured, "Well, no one here will tell."

She rolled her eyes and moved away from him. "I'm sure that you're well aware that it would be statutory rape."

He chuckled and propped his elbows up on the counter, his back leaning against the edge, his long black hair falling gracefully down his shoulders. As she watched him, she couldn't help thinking that, if he really wanted to, Naraku could have easily passed for a woman. As long as he didn't talk, anyway. His deep voice—and first-hand experience with him in bed—was the only thing that marked his masculinity. "That didn't stop you three years ago."

"I was a different person three years ago. Besides, I'm not eighteen yet."

"Well, you're only a couple of weeks away from your birthday. Why bother waiting?" he murmured as he eyed her appreciatively.

She smirked. "Patience. You need to learn to get some."

He laughed eerily in response. "Oh, I have patience, my dear Kikyo. I have plenty of patience."

…

Kagome's mind was already beginning to give way. She had no idea how long she had been in this hell-hole, but it didn't matter. The complete darkness and sensory deprivation played sadistic games with her head. Disoriented and confused, she lost all sense of time until she wasn't even sure if she was sitting on the ground, sitting upside down on the ceiling, or if she was floating in space. She hugged her arms around her cold body, but at the same time, she couldn't seem to decide whether she was shivering from the cold or sweating from the suffocation. Nothing felt real yet the isolation was all too palpable.

She had tried yelling earlier, but to no avail. What made her think that others would be able to hear her if she couldn't even hear herself? She had tried to crawl a little bit, but due to the fact she couldn't tell the ceiling from the ground, she immediately gave up the effort. It felt too much like she was falling into space.

She had tried to sleep and maybe she was still sleeping. What difference did it make? The black was still just as black with her eyes opened or closed. Then again, maybe…maybe this was a dream and she would wake any moment to find herself safely tucked in bed, perhaps with a fever or something that would give her such horrendous dreams as this.

She didn't know why but she smiled grimly to herself. No, this was no dream. This was a nightmare. A nightmare she could not seem to wake from.

She lay her head down on what she presumed was where her arms should have been. She couldn't feel anything there, but since she wasn't falling over, she assumed that her judgment was correct. She continued to endure the silence through pure strength of will, but she knew that her mind would only last so long until it shattered into pieces.

It was only a matter of time. Everything was only a matter of time.

…

Naraku watched with a vicious smile on his face as he watched Kikyo walk all too calmly back to the car. Truly, only someone like Kikyo would be able to murder an entire family, complete with new-born babe and toddlers, with her bare hands and not even flinch. Her hair was still perfectly straight without even one tangle or knot. Even her clothes looked freshly pressed without a speck of blood to mar the clean white button-up shirt. Simply amazing.

She was exactly the person that he had been waiting for to appear. Of course, he needed to stay on his toes with her. She was far too unpredictable, even for him.

She even opened the passenger door with more grace than was normal for a person. She took her time sitting down and inspected her nails, a look of disgust crossing her face as she flicked a piece of human flesh from underneath her right index finger onto the street, before closing the door with a light slam and fastening her seat belt. Naraku mentally chuckled at the fact that she even bothered to follow such a small rule as fastening a seat belt when she had just murdered in cold blood a family of six. He told her as much.

"Why do you bother with that?" he gestured towards the seat belt. "It's not like you really need it."

She kept a perfectly straight face though she lifted an eyebrow slightly. "Whatever do you mean? You know I've always followed the rules."

"Of course…"

Perfect. That was the only word he could think of to describe her. Well, that and perhaps divinely evil, but same difference. She was what he needed.

But, for now, she would have to stay undercover a little longer. Soon…soon his plans will fall into action.

…

Sobs racked Kagome's body, but she made no noise. How much longer could she survive? Not long. She was reaching the limit already. Hallucinations plagued her and terrifying scenarios flashed one after the other in her head. She could no longer tell what was real although she knew that the only reality was the darkness enveloping her senses.

Wait, what's that? A light? Another hallucination? She couldn't tell. No, she could have sworn that she heard a creak of rusty metal nearby. Footsteps? A flood of light poured in and blinded her dilated pupils. She shied away from the light and hid her head in her arms. A voice. Her voice? No, it was a man's voice.

_"Hey, get up. It's time to go."_

She ventured to raise her head, but the light was so bright. All she could see was the vague outline of a tall man with a long train of hair and two triangles placed like animal ears on top of his head. "Who are you?"

_"It doesn't matter. Just get up. You gotta go."_

She looked down and, for the first time in who knows how long, she saw her own limbs. Her clothes were dirty and ragged like she had been in the same set for many months, but there was no way she could have been there for that long.

She tried to stand but her legs were sore and had forgotten how to stand. The man closed the distance between them in two strides and supported her as she tried to walk. She glanced up and her mouth fell open slightly at the orbs of swirling amber that passed for his eyes. There seemed to be so much emotion built up behind those irises that her heart ached just gazing into those spheres. They were a little hypnotizing, and she felt her legs give way as she blacked out.

…

"Ugh, my head…" muttered Kagome as she struggled awake. With her drowsy lids, she took in her surroundings and noted that everything was normal. There was her desk, the jacket she had forgotten to hang up, her backpack. She was in her own bed in her pajamas. Then, her eyes snapped open as she realized that things weren't _supposed_ to benormal. "What happened?"

She tumbled out of bed and rushed downstairs to the familiar smell of noodles. "Mom?"

"Oh, hi dear. Are you hungry? You were so tired last night when you came home that I just let you sleep through dinner. I'll have breakfast ready in a minute or two." Her cheery disposition caught Kagome off-guard.

"Last night? How long was I gone?"

"Wow, you must really have slept too much. Don't you remember? You told me yesterday morning that you were going to stay over at Eri's house for the weekend."

"Weekend?" she puzzled. "But I haven't been home since Wednesday."

Her mother gave her a strange look as she came over to place a hand on her forehead. "Oh dear, are you certain you're alright? You do look a little pale."

"No, I'm fine. I guess I just slept too much." Kagome hated lying, but somehow she knew that her mom wouldn't believe a word she said. So, she had been gone since Wednesday, but her mom thought she was only gone for the weekend? What was going on?

Somehow, Kagome's perfectly normal life was not so normal anymore.


	3. Words of Wisdom

A/N: Weeell...I've certainly been gone for ages...not really sure if anybody has noticed though...anyhow, a lot has gone on in my life. I've graduated from high school and I'll be attending university in September. Freaky how quickly time passes by. Reading some of my older works, I realized how immature some of my previous writing has been. Well, I guess the best way to get better is to keep writing. Anyway, I've got a lot of good ideas for this fic and I think I can really make something decent out of it. So, without any further ado, here's chapter two.

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter Two: Words of Wisdom  
**

He pulled his hood further down his face as he tried to shelter himself from the world. The humidity created a much too suffocating atmosphere for even a light jacket, but he didn't care. Flickering streetlights cast ever-changing shadows on the cracked asphalt, and the sounds of honking horns resounded in the distance. It was a clear night but the garish city lights overpowered the luminance of the stars. Shady men in cheap suits eyed him suspiciously while others cast a careless glance at the tall silhouette before returning to their own businesses once again. No one bothered the lone figure and he, in return, completely disregarded the slums.

He kicked a beer can lying crumpled on the sidewalk and listened distractedly as it clattered down the deserted street and into an alleyway. He barely even flinched when some idiot kids who thought they were invincible raced down the street on their motorcycles and cars and filled the night air with the roaring of engines and screeching of tires.

It was disgusting that this was what he had to call home now.

He broke out of his reverie when he suddenly realized that he had arrived. He looked up to find that he stood before a dark stairway with multi-colored graffiti lining its walls. Chewed gum of all varieties littered the steps and arm-rails and the single, flickering light bulb at the top of the stairway threatened to detach and electrocute any unfortunate soul who happened to be passing at the wrong time.

With an irritated sigh, he stuck his hands in his jacket pocket as he made his way up the stairs and headed for the door marked as 2C. His sensitive ears picked up the loud moans and the squeaking bedsprings coming from inside. Grimacing, he rapped smartly on the door and waited impatiently for the owner to open the door. After much rustling of bed sheets and foul curses, a tall muscled man wearing nothing but a pair of boxers opened the door.

"What the hell do you want?" he scowled, angry at anyone who dared interrupt his pleasure-seeking.

"Mr. Ryo Inoto, I presume?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

He smirked and calmly pulled out a .5 mm handgun from his jacket pocket. "Nothing much. I was simply ordered to end your life." With that, he pulled the trigger and the gunshot rang through the halls. Other than the slight outbursts from neighbors, nobody came out of their homes to inspect the noise. After all, in a neighborhood such as this, somebody was shot every day, and it was best not to get involved in matters that did not involve oneself.

By the time the woman Ryo Inoto had been pleasuring made it to the door, the man who shot him was long gone, leaving only a single card that had the name "Inuyasha" scrawled heavily and angrily across its length.

…

Inuyasha sighed as he turned over in his small bed. When he stretched his legs to their full length, his feet dangled off over the edge. Apparently his employer had severely miscalculated his height. But, it wasn't his place to complain. After all, he should be thankful that the bastard took him in and fed him…What bullshit.

The only thing he has to thank _him_ for is the scar running along his spinal cord. Even though he was stronger and healed faster than a normal human, the bastard had done something that left a permanent mark on his back, not to mention some _other_ marks that revealed his "uniqueness."

Although he was young when _it_ happened, he could still recall vague snippets of a life before all the manipulation, all the sneakiness, all the furtive glances cast upon him when he went out without something to cover his head and the abnormal appendages attached there. He could remember a time when he was held and loved by his parents. Their faces were blurred in his mind now, but he could remember his father's strong arms as they tossed him playfully into the air and caught him right before he landed on the floor. He loved it when his father did that. He never feared that his father would drop him. There was a never a doubt in his mind that he was in perfectly safe and capable hands. And his mother…she was the epitome of kindness and gentleness. There were all those times that he would cuddle into her lap and then she would smile and rock him gently to sleep. She was always so well-tempered. Obviously, he had inherited his father's not-so-gentle disposition he thought with a wry smile.

His expression soured when he remembered that he was no longer that little boy and that his parents had long gone. All that was left now was a man who had no freewill.

He hated doing "jobs" for him. All he got to do was the dirty work. Well, not like he really wanted to do _any_ work for him, for that matter, but still. Like that last time when he had to go kidnap that girl. It was bad enough that he had to do that kind of stuff but _he_ never even told him why he had to do the things he did. He hated being ignorant.

Still, what could he do? He was not all human and there was nothing he could do outside of what he does for _him_.

_Damn you, Naraku, for doing this to me. I swear I won't be stuck here forever._

...

Graduation night. Somehow Kagome always imagined it would be better than this. Yes, she was excited as every senior is expected to be, but as she looked back on her eighteen years of life, she couldn't but feel distinctly disappointed at the absence of a meaningful existence. She had lived as normal a life (except for that one incident she never talked about three months ago) as one could possibly hope for and she had a painfully normal boyfriend in Hojo. So why did she feel as if she was meant for more than this simple life?

"Kagome dear, are you ready yet? The ceremony starts in an hour!" called out her mother.

"Yeah, Mom, I'll be there in a sec."

She looked at her reflection in the mirror and sighed. She was all decked out in the black graduation robes, and the yellow tassel that indicated graduating with honors hung around her neck and draped over her front.

Ever since that incident, despite her efforts to go on with life as normal, she had been plagued with an acute sense of pessimism. Some of her cheery disposition had faded and it left a much more realistic rather than idealistic Kagome behind. A dark shadow seemed to have found a permanent residency over her mien though she tried to hide that behind her normal optimistic self. Those few days in complete sensory deprivation had taken its toll on her mind and she was still feeling the side effects. She had become somewhat claustrophobic as well as developed an understandable fear of the dark.

Still, she never spoke to anyone about that incident. For one, she didn't want to have to go through all the police work that had to be involved in a case like hers. Second, she didn't know if anyone would believe her. Third, she wasn't even certain herself whether it had occurred or not. After all, according to all her friends and family, she had been present all those days that she thought she had been gone.

She couldn't help but wonder if it was all a dream—a horribly realistic and terrifying dream—but a dream nonetheless. Yet, she could still remember feeling the utter desolation, the cold feeling of loneliness and abandonment…those were still as palpable as ever.

Sighing, she shook her head in an attempt to rid herself of unwanted thoughts. Today was a big day. No use spoiling it by thinking about things that are in the past. She headed downstairs and was enveloped in a big bear hug as her mother sniffled lightly. "Oh, my baby is growing up and I can't do a thing about it!" she exclaimed.

"Oh, Mom. You know I'll always love you."

"Oh, I know. But it's just that…Oh Kagome dear. You just look so beautiful today and so mature! I don't know where my little baby went, that's all."

"I'm still right here, Mom," she comforted.

Mrs. Higurashi wiped away the rogue tears that had slipped down her face. She held her daughter's shoulders at arms length and regarded her with serious eyes. "I know that and I want you to know that I'll always be here too. I'll always support you, no matter what. Remember that. No matter what happens, I'll always love you and be on your side."

For a moment, Kagome wasn't certain as to how she should respond. Her mother had always been loving and supportive and she never doubted for a moment that Mrs. Higurashi would stand by her side through everything. Yet, there was something strange about her mother today. It was almost as if she _expected_ something to happen.

_No, _Kagome thought_, now that's just silly. It's probably just the thought of me graduating that's getting to her_. With that thought, Kagome broke out into a beaming smile and replied, "Of course I know that. I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, honey."

Their mother-daughter moment was broken, however, when the loud and excited screams of Kagome's younger brother, Souta emerged from the front door. He practically tackled Kagome as he wrapped his arms around his older sister. At age twelve, he was six years younger than Kagome and adored her. Of course, as with all siblings, they've had their fair share of arguments and fights, but in the end, they could always talk with each other about any problem they had. He had no reserves about giving his sister hugs (well, except maybe at school…) and especially not on her graduation day.

Kagome smiled gently at her younger brother and lovingly ruffled his hair. "Hey kiddo, are you gonna let me breathe any time soon?" she joked.

Souta released his death grip on her and looked up at her with glowing eyes. He had not yet hit his growth spurt and stood at five inches shorter than Kagome. "Congratulations sis!"

"Heh, thanks. Be good now. When I go off to college, you're gonna have to take care of Mom and Granddad and the Shrine, you got that?"

Souta nodded enthusiastically. "Yup. I've got to be the man around here now that you're gone!"

Kagome was about to say "that's right" when she realized his implication. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" she exclaimed as she reached out to lightly smack her brother.

Souta yelped as Kagome began to chase him around the room. Mrs. Higurashi smiled at her two children's antics and didn't decide to break up the so-called "fight" until Kagome had tackled Souta to the floor in a tickling match.

"Alright, alright. Kagome, I thought you're supposed to be an adult now?" Mrs. Higurashi commented with a slight smirk.

Kagome crawled to her feet, her cheeks slightly flushed both from the exertion of chasing her brother around the house and also from embarrassment at being told off by her mother. "Sorry, Mom."

"Alright, let's go. Don't want Kagome to be late for her own graduation, now do we?"

…

Kagome let out a loud but satisfied sigh as she fell onto the cushiony heaven known as her bed. She snuggled into her pillows as she realized how much she would miss this bed, this room, and this house. As the descendents of a long line of priests and priestesses, Kagome and Souta had the responsibility of taking care of the Shrine. Kagome had grown up here and had known no other home. Now that she was moving off to university, she wasn't certain she was ready to move.

She smiled gently as she took out her digital camera to review the pictures she had taken of graduation. There was her and Hojo. He was really such a sweet guy, despite his being a little dense. Kagome couldn't find it in her to break up with him although she really did not like him in that way. It didn't help that Hojo was "assured" of Kagome's feelings for him by the three girls crowding around Kagome in the next picture: Eri, Ayame, and Yuki. They were nosy and rather air-headed, but they were true friends. She moved onto the next picture and her eyebrows furrowed.

The picture was of Miss Matsuri and herself, but what confused Kagome were the words that her favorite teacher spoke after the picture was taken.

...

_"Congratulations, Kagome."_

_Kagome broke off from her friends to see Miss Matsuri waving to her. With a bright smile, Kagome headed her way to give her a brief hug. "Thanks, Miss Matsuri. You've been such an awesome teacher."_

_"And you've been an outstanding student. Well, except for all the tardies," she replied with a sparkle in her eyes. Kagome reddened slightly, but said nothing. "Also, I don't want to hear you calling me Miss Matsuri anymore."_

_"Huh?"_

_"You've graduated. You're an adult now. I don't want to be addressed as a teacher to an adult. It makes me sound so old! Just call me Sango from now on."_

_Kagome laughed as she said, "Ah, I get it now. No problem, Mi—I mean Sango. We're going to keep in touch though, right?"_

_"Of course. Seriously though, if you ever find yourself in a bind, don't hesitate to call me up. I'll always be around if you need help, okay?"_

_"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind if I have guy troubles."_

_"With a guy like Hojo, the only guy problem you'll ever have is how to hide your boredom. Then again, he probably wouldn't notice."_

_Kagome gaped at Sango's blatant insult to Hojo, but on second thought, realized that she wasn't insulting him. She was simply stating the facts. "Yeah…"_

_All the mirth left Sango's eyes as she said in a serious tone, "Kagome, promise me. If something happens, trust that I'll help you."_

…

On any other occasion, Kagome would not have found anything strange with Sango's comments. Yet, it just so happened that those words were spoken on the same day that Mrs. Higurashi had acted a little strange. It could possibly be attributed to the fact that today was Kagome's graduation, but that did not cover all of it.

Why did it seem as if all of Kagome's closest people knew something that she did not? Was there something wrong with her that she didn't know about?

Kagome's eyes widened as she sat up in her bed. Was it possible that they knew about her kidnapping? With a sigh, she laid back down. No, it didn't make any sense. If they knew, why didn't they say anything about it specifically? Confused and weary from a day of emotional exertion, Kagome fell into a fitful sleep.

…

Inuyasha growled angrily when the loud ringing of his phone woke him from his sleep. He rolled off his bed to pick up the phone. "What the hell do you want?"

The person on the other end was unfazed. _"My, my, Inuyasha. Your temper has not improved at all. You would think that you would have better regard for your savior."_

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Bullshit. What do you want, Naraku?"

_"Well, I see that you're as straight-forward as always. I have another job for you."_

* * *

A/N: It's taking a while for the plot to form, but I'm hoping it will work out well. Anyhow, like all authors, I like hearing feedback! Get the hint? Reviews are loved and cherished, and they honestly give me a lot of encouragement just knowing that there are people out there who read my stuff. Alrighty, well, til next time then.


	4. Never Wander Dark Streets by Yourself

**A/N**: Sigh I give up. I don't mean I'm giving up writing. It's just that I think that I've been putting too much emphasis on the popularity of my writing via reviews. When I do that, I find that I'm not writing the way I should be writing anymore. It's not the type of motivation I should be seeking for my writing. Anyway, in short, I've finally gotten back to the days where I wrote because I liked writing, not because I was looking for praise. This probably doesn't affect you, my dear readers, at all, but it was just something I had to get off my chest.

Anyhow, it's been a while since I've been able to update so quickly. In fact, I don't think I've ever updated a chapter in less than a week. Eh, whatever. Enjoy.

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 3: Never Wander Dark Streets by Yourself**

"Mom, I'm going to meet up with Eri at the mall. I'll be back later tonight for dinner!" called out Kagome from upstairs while frantically picking out a set of appropriate clothes. She had, once again, woken up late despite her rather annoying alarm clock (otherwise known as Buyo, the fat cat that could give Garfield a run for his money in stomach diameter) awakening her at a God-forsaken hour sometime earlier that morning. No, with Kagome's renowned bright morning attitude, she had shoved the cat off of her and threw a pillow over her head to block out the sun, and all of this without opening her eyes once.

Now, however, she was berating herself for throwing the alarm clock out of the window last week (well, school _was_ over now) and forgetting to either fix it or buy a new one.

Growling in frustration, she tried to pull on a pair of jeans while brushing her teeth while attempting to fix the mess of tangled strands amassed atop of her head…and failing miserably. With a yelp, she fell to the floor with a somewhat indelicate thump as she finally pulled up her pants. Any work that she had done to her hair, though, was completely wasted.

Finally, after an abnormal amount of work for such a small task, Kagome was dressed and ready for a day of shopping. Suddenly in a much more cheerful mood, she made her way downstairs only to see her brother lazing about the couch.

"Souta, get off your butt and go do something!" she yelled as she ran out the door.

She completely disregarded the rude comment Souta made as she noticed the voices on the television held something of greater interest. She paused at the door to listen to the rest of the news report.

_"Including yesterday's shooting, there have been a total of seven deaths, which are assumed to be all from the same shooter. No one has seen the shooter and the only evidence seems to be a card with the name 'Inuyasha' written on it. Although the authorities are hesitant to point 'Inuyasha' as the killer, friends and families of the victims have now dubbed these cases the 'Inuyasha Shootings."_

"Eh, boring," she heard Souta mumbling before changing the channel.

_The Inuyasha Shootings, huh?_ she pondered in her mind before walking out the door.

…

Kagome sighed deeply as she dragged her weary feet down the streets. Now she remembered why she used to hate shopping with Eri. The woman seemed to have feet of steel! The two girls had met up at the mall and Eri had proceeded to dragging the other girl from one end of the mall to the other and back again without so much as a rest. She'd also talked the whole time. No, that's not right. Talking would have entailed thought process. What Eri did was more similar to stream of consciousness. She jumped from one subject to the other in a matter of seconds, and oftentimes in the matter of fractions of a second. To top it all off, the two friends had met a group of cute guys, who looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six, at the mall and Eri insisted on having dinner with them. It turned out to be a flirt-fest.

All the while, Kagome only wanted to go home and rest her tired feet. But, she did have to admit that one of the guys was pretty cute. Okay, so he was really, really hot. His jet black hair was swept back into a low ponytail and his lavender eyes sparkled with laughter. His deep purple shirt was tight, revealing well-toned muscles to die for (which Eri nearly did). He had a boyish air about him that was disarming, but he had one major flaw: he groped anything and everything that appeared to have breasts. Well, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but he was still the most amorous man Kagome had ever met before.

It made her a bit uncomfortable associating with this group of men whom she had never met before, but they were friendly and showed no signs of wanting anything more than just talking. Well, all except for _him_, but he was easily dealt with by his friends. Besides, Kagome was not the type of girl who would allow herself to be taken without a fight. Throughout the whole dinner, never once did she let go of her purse or of the bottle of pepper spray she kept inside.

Finally, after dinner was over, the men had left to go about their business and Eri had gone to a club to meet up with some of their other friends. Kagome was never too interested in the club scene and, ever since that incident, nyctophobia and claustrophobia prevented her from going anywhere that would be dark and crowded.

As she walked down the streets, however, she couldn't help but feel that she should have gone with Eri. Though this was an area she had walked pass hundreds if not thousands of times, she had rarely done so by herself or at night. She cast furtive glances at her surrounding environment and shivered when the shadows in the alleys would lengthen and contract with the coming and going of cars with their headlights. The hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up and she rubbed her arms for warmth. It was uncommonly cold for a summer night and the thin material of her t-shirt did little to help.

She froze when she suddenly heard the clanging of metal reverberate from an alleyway further down. _Nothing but a cat, nothing but a cat, nothing but a cat_, she chanted as she walked closer. She was tempted to cross the street to the other side to avoid the alley, but there was too much traffic to cross safely.

"Help! Please, help!"

Kagome thoughts were interrupted when the shrill voice of a young child pierced the atmosphere. Throwing her previous fear out the window, she ran towards the commotion and found herself facing the dark alley where the clanging had been emitted. Squinting, she could make out three vague silhouettes, deep within the alcove.

"Stop it, you big bully! Stop it!" The child's voice shook with fear, although it sounded as if he were trying his best to keep it hidden.

A second voice drifted out from the alley and Kagome's skin prickled with anxiety. "Shut up, kid! Or your parents won't be the only ones dead."

"That's right. You tell him, brother," agreed the third voice.

Kagome quickly ducked against the neighboring wall as she tried to steady her breathing. That man had just killed somebody and was threatening to kill the kid as well! She should do something, but what? Chances are, if she walked into the alley to try to stop him, her name would end up in tomorrow's newspaper in the obituary section. With her luck, one of the men in the alley might be Inuyasha.

Still…if she did nothing, the poor boy would certainly not make it either. What to do, what to do? She looked up to the sky, hoping for inspiration. However, all she received was silent indifference from the cold moon and stars, but no answers.

_Wait, why am I hesitating? There's a life at stake here!_ she suddenly realized. She also realized that had it been three months ago, she would not have hesitated at all. _Have I really changed that much?_

Shaking her head to rid herself of those unwelcome thoughts, she took in a deep breath only to find that the voices were gone. She stepped into the alley confused and walked straight into a tall and muscular body. Unable to mask a startled gasp, Kagome looked up to find herself staring into a pair of menacing crimson eyes. The intensity behind those orbs of ruby both frightened and enthralled her.

Fear took over, however, when an ambiguous smirk marred his otherwise heart-breaking features. "Well, look at what we have here?" His voice was laced with malice, and it was all Kagome could do to stop herself from running away. He licked his lips suggestively, allowing a fang to protrude from his mouth. He stepped closer to her as he continued to examine her appreciatively. "Brother, this job is turning out to be a lot more interesting than I thought it would be."

"You're right, Brother. You're always right, Brother," replied the other voice. Out of the corner of her eye, Kagome noticed that this man was the complete opposite of the first man. His face resembled that of a flattened snake while his short, stubby body was shaped like a barrel. His pasty complexion and balding head made her want to vomit. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that he was a demon. In fact, the other man seemed far more than demonic.

Kagome tried to step back but the man quickly whipped his arms around her waist which effectively pinned her against him. Swallowing thickly, Kagome managed to whisper, "Wh-what are you doing? Let go of the kid."

The man's mouth twitched into a sadistic smile as he replied, "Certainly. Anything for you babe…" Kagome was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he continued, "But…what do I get in return?"

He bent down his head as he nuzzled her neck. Kagome gasped sharply when she felt his tongue trailing down her neck to her collarbone. "Stop it!" she shrieked. Her old fire that had disappeared for so long finally returned as she tried to kick the man. When that was unsuccessful, she tried to shove him away. However, she was nowhere near as strong as he was and her shoving him away only seemed to encourage his advances.

"She's a fighter, this one is!" laughed the first man. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "How about this, little brother? Once I am through with her, I'll give her hair to you!"

"Splendid idea! Thank you brother!"

The voice of the little boy she had heard earlier suddenly rang into her ears. "Let her go, you big bully!" Looking down, she saw the boy charging at his legs and punching him with his small fists. Despite the severity of the situation, she couldn't help the amused smile that formed in her mind.

However, it seemed that she wasn't the only one who found the situation amusing. The older brother burst out into a deep and terrible laughter before stopping suddenly and shoving the poor boy away from him with ease. "Get away from me boy. Can't you see I'm busy?"

A scoff suddenly rang out. Though the voice was rough, to Kagome's ears, they sounded like the sweetest thing. "Hiten and Manten, the infamous Thunder Brothers. I should have known just as much. When will you stop screwing around with these little kids and be men? Then again, that'll probably be a little hard for you."

The voice came from behind Kagome, but she could not turn around to see who the newcomer was. Nor could she figure out if he was friend or foe. From his tone, it certainly did not seem that he held any particular good will toward these "Thunder Brothers," but she could never be sure. There was something vaguely familiar about his voice however, but she couldn't seem to remember where she'd heard it before.

An angry growl emanated from Hiten as he faced off with the unknown stranger. "Heh…Inuyasha, what would you know about being a man?"

_Inuyasha?! But, isn't that supposed to be the shooter who's been all over the news lately?_ Kagome shut her eyes tightly as she wonder, _What in the world have I gotten myself into? First it's this molester, then a serial murderer?_

Inuyasha snarled, "Well, why don't you let the bitch go and see for yourself?"

Hiten laughed a barking sort of laugh. "No thank you. I don't screw around with little kids." He turned his eyes to Kagome and continued, "I'd much, much more prefer to spend my time with this little chick."

By this time, Kagome had clamped her eyes shut as little drops of tears began to form in her eyes. Even if she somehow managed to escape the grasp of this Hiten character, there was the matter of Manten and Inuyasha. Either way, she was dead.

Suddenly, all the emotions that she had bottled up from the incident poured into her body and infested her mind. The fear, the confusion, the rage. They all came together to terrorize her and strangle her with their potency.

"Stop it." Her voice began as barely a whisper. Hiten ignored her and continued sucking away at her neck. Manten watched with glee and burst out into a chuckle every now and then. Inuyasha, despite his words, seemed to hang away from them. The young boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Stop it." Her voice grew in strength as she clenched her hands into tight fists. Hiten looked up in surprise when he felt a surge of power course through her body. Manten stopped his chuckling. Inuyasha tried to act nonchalant, but could not hide the curious glances he threw at the girl.

"Stop it!" She snapped her eyes open and for a moment, a brief moment that seemed to span for millennia though it occurred in a fraction of a second, Hiten stared into her emotionless crystalline blue orbs and felt fear. He was not afraid of anything, yet she frightened him.

Before he could react, a blinding flash of light threw him backwards and stole the voice from his scream as he disintegrated in the blast.

Then, there was only blackness.

* * *

A/N: Well, that was pleasant...next chapter Kagome meets Inuyasha. That's when the _real_ fun ought to start...hehe...


	5. Midnight Talks are Good for the Soul

A/N: It's funny where procrastinating on studying for an English midterm (one on Middle English mind you...and that's waaaay before Shakespeare's time, if that's what you're wondering) will land a girl. Namely, straight back to a story that she'd never thought would make any further progress. Maybe I just need some more English midterms to encourage--scare--me into finishing my stories. Shudders at the thought of my GPA dropping even further than it already has. Or not. Regardless of my motives for writing, enjoy and please leave a review or two!

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 4: Midnight Talks are Good for the Soul**

Inuyasha stared at the girl with wary eyes. He shouldn't have brought her back to his apartment. He should've just left her on the streets and waited for some other sap to pick her up and bring her back to her home. Then again, what if that "sap" wanted more than just bring her home? Although he hated to admit it, he couldn't deny that his own intentions weren't all pure, never mind another. She wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, but there was something that called him to her.

No, she was safer here, although from what, Inuyasha could not say.

Still, he shouldn't have brought her here. She would only interfere with his life and his work. He could not afford to have that happening. He had to live long enough to exact his revenge. But, there was just something about her that demanded innocence and honesty.

Besides, he recognized her as the girl Naraku had ordered him to kidnap a several months ago. It would be an opportunity to revolt against him without really covertly rebelling against his oppressor.

He did not even try to repress the smirk that graced his face as he fantasized how this little move would anger Naraku so much that he would start vomiting blood. Then maybe he would slip in his own poison and crack his head against the corner of a table which would split a hole in that thick head of his. Then maybe he would slowly bleed to death and he wouldn't even be able to do a damn thing.

Inuyasha shrugged. No, that was too good for the bastard. He should really spend some more time thinking of a more appropriate death for Naraku.

His smirk faded somewhat as he reflected upon what had happened earlier that night. That girl possessed some serious power. He didn't even know why himself, but he was grateful that something held him back from beating the shit out of Hiten earlier; otherwise, he would have been caught up in that blast as well and then puff! There goes his life.

As to how she had managed to blast both the thunder brothers into oblivion was still a mystery to him. He could not sense anything powerful about her before and even now as he stared—er, watched over—her still form, he could not sense anything but a normal human aura about her. Why was she so special that Naraku would send him to kidnap her?

His hand reached out of its own accord to brush a lock of stray hair from her face. He snapped it back swiftly when his claws grazed the soft skin of her face. It wasn't that he felt wrong touching her. Quite the opposite, it felt a little _too _good and that was what frightened him. The last thing he needed was getting attached to this girl.

A soft moan broke him from his thoughts as the girl slowly lifted a hand to rub her temples gingerly. Out of instinct, Inuyasha backed away into the shadows and watched from afar as the girl lifted her head slightly to peer around.

…

Kagome groaned as she tried to sit up. Every muscle in her body ached like she had just finished a triathlon—not that she'd ever had the endurance or the desire to try one—and the throbbing in her head filled her eardrums. She glanced around warily, suddenly aware that she was in an unknown building lying on an unknown person's rather lumpy couch. She used her right hand to push herself into a sitting position and frowned when she felt a spring. No doubt that the dilapidated condition of the couch had done little to help alleviate the ache plaguing her body.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Her voice cracked and it was only then that she realized how thirsty she was. She gently licked her lips and grimaced when the metallic taste of blood trickled into her mouth. She swung her legs off the couch but immediately regretted it when her head spun dizzily from the exertion.

Her skin crawled in anticipation. It was dark and she hated the dark with a passion. Still, she swallowed her fear and shakily forced herself to her feet, slowly circling in place to get a closer look at her surroundings.

Dark shadows filled much of the room she was in, but she could make out what resembled a television in one corner and an open door to another room on the opposite side of the TV. Behind the couch on which she had waken up—the only couch in the room—was a counter, and beyond that, she assumed, was the kitchen. The stack of dishes piled up over the sink affirmed her suspicions.

Apparently, she was in a small apartment on a floor not too close to the ground since she could catch glimpses of some building tops through the holes left by the decrepit window shades. Well, there goes jumping out the window as a means of escape. Not the safest neighborhood she presumed. What happened earlier to land her in this type of predicament?

She retraced her day in her mind. _Woke up late, again. Went shopping with Eri. Had dinner with a bunch of guys. Walked home…heard screaming…_

Her eyes widened as everything flooded back in a surge. She had been struggling with that Hiten person. Then there was a flash of bright light and then that was it. What happened? What was that light?

As she lost herself in her thoughts, she suddenly realized why something felt strangely out of place: it was eerily quiet. There was no outside noise, not even a trace of wind against the open holes of the window.

She looked around one more time, her eyes now adjusted to the dark. No, nothing there. Her heart nearly stopped when a soft scuffle followed by a muffled obscenity that alerted her that she was not the only one in the room. "Who's there?"

...

Inuyasha cursed under his breath when the girl looked his way.

He had been observing her from a shadowed corner and he couldn't help but admire how the little ray of light coming from the boarded window fell against her face and highlighted her contours. He sniffed lightly and noticed that despite the fear that laced her scent, she had a refreshing touch to her. It was something he had not sensed with any other humans he had met. It felt like…purity?

Eh, whatever. It was no use dwelling on these types of thoughts. It was no business of his anyway.

He shifted into a more comfortable position, but forgot that he had yet to clean his laundry and suffered the consequences. His left foot caught in a shirt, his legs slipping forward while his body went backward. Fortunately for him, his excellent reaction time saved him from an ungraceful face plant, but he could do nothing about the loud commotion he created, nor could he retract the obscenity from escaping his lips.

"Who's there?" Her voice echoed in the small apartment and tormented his sensitive hearing with its softness.

What did he do now? Why did he have to go play hero and bring the girl back, he questioned himself for the thousandth time. The girl's eyes narrowed in his direction and he knew that she saw him, or at least the silhouette of him, anyhow.

"Who are you? Did you bring me here? What do you want?" she rattled off without taking a breath in between.

Like the word savvy person that Inuyasha was, he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "I'm the person who just saved your sorry ass, bitch."

…

Kagome considered herself to be a rather forgiving person who had a relatively high tolerance level for idiocy. However, there were a couple of things that really annoyed her to no end. Somewhere near the top of that list was rudeness and arrogance, both of which this unnamed stranger seemingly possessed.

"Well, _excuse _me," she snapped back. "I wasn't informed that your majesty was present. Since my presence here must obviously be a thorn in your royal side, if you'll just show me the way out, I'll be leaving now."

Of all the possible responses Inuyasha was expecting, this was not one of them. No thank you or anything. Then again, it wasn't as if he was really expecting a thank you. In fact, he wasn't sure what he was thinking at all. As usual, when faced with a situation in which he had no control—which, admittedly, was more often than he liked—Inuyasha resorted to his favorite self-defense mechanism: jackass mode.

"Yeah, you better believe you're a thorn in my side. Too bad for you, you're not getting out of here. Damn it. If I'd known what a pain in the ass it would be to save you, I would've just let the Thunder Sisters screw you." Never mind the fact that he really hadn't done anything except watch with ill-masked surprise as she obliterated them to nothingness, but that little fact did not need to be mentioned.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she prodded, "Then you're the man whose voice I heard?"

He smirked arrogantly, forgetting momentarily that she could not distinguish his features in the dark apartment. "Hah. What, you wanna thank me now?"

His smirk faded quickly when he saw that thanking him was the furthest thing on her mind. "So that means you're Inuyasha?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

She threw her hands up in the air and shook her head. "Great. Not only am I stuck in the same room as a man who has no idea what courtesy is, but I've been kidnapped by a serial murderer! Just my damn luck."

Kagome slapped both her hands over her mouth as soon as the words were out. With a mental groan, she berated herself. It wasn't exactly the wisest idea to remind a killer that he was a killer, and it was even less wise to anger this same killer into taking her life. Fear shimmered in her eyes yet a glimmer of defiance colored her mien. Still, she could not prevent her heart from beating wildly out of control when she noticed the sudden tension in the way he held himself.

"Murderer am I?" he spat out bitterly.

She shrank back and slammed her eyelids shut when she saw him raise a clawed hand, poised to hit her. Her breath quickened as she readied herself for the blow. Yet, it never came.

She snuck her eyes open slowly and realized that Inuyasha had slipped out of her sight. Confused, but thankful that he had not killed her right then and there, she sighed in relief. Then again, as she perused her bleak situation once again, perhaps it would have been more humane to put her out of her misery quickly.

…

Inuyasha watched uninterestedly as he dropped his empty can of cheap beer to the streets from his position seated with his legs dangling over the edge of the roof, completely disregarding any possibility that the can of beer could prove fatal for any unfortunate soul who happened to be treading the streets at that time of night (which was never a smart thing to do anyway). This was one of his favorite perches, mostly because normal people were afraid of getting shot if they presented themselves alone and unprotected on the roof of a building. Inuyasha had no fear of bullets, though sometimes he wished that he did.

Murderer she had called him. He was disturbed and irritated that he cared. He did not mind being called a murderer—he had been called many far worse names—but the fact that he cared that it was she who called him thus was far more distracting. Who was she to him that he should care? She was no more than a girl whom he had once kidnapped at the whim of his employer and whom he had kidnapped again—since technically this was what he had done—in order to spite that same employer.

Perhaps it was simply because she was the first human contact—Naraku did not count since Inuyasha never considered him a human in the first place—he'd had in many years. Regardless of her ill will and not so wonderful first impression of him, it still made him feel not quite as alone.

He shoved the thought far into the back recesses of his mind as he attempted to purge it altogether. He had survived this long without anybody in his life, and he didn't need anybody in his life now. He was his own man.

Still, he could not rid himself of the nagging idea that by bringing her back with him, he had set certain events into motion that will not be easily stopped.

…

Kagome sat uncomfortably on the couch, her eyes darting from door to window to door at record speed. Her eyes had long adjusted to the dark but shivers still plagued her spinal cord, her hands clammy with the cold sweat induced by the lack of light.

She had wanted badly to search for the light switch and flood this God-forsaken apartment with blissful light, but she didn't dare to uproot herself from her spot. Who knew what else may be lying in wait for her in the shadows? In her paranoia, she continuously turned in circles to ensure that nothing was crawling up from behind her, which was giving her a serious headache. Thus torn between the strong desire of light and the fear of shadows, she had done the only thing that seemed reasonable at that time. She had slid back into the couch, a little more comfortable now that there was something to her back rather than open space. Of course, she ignored the little voice in her head that told her that if somebody really wanted to kill her, there was actually very little need to come from the back.

A part of her desperately wished that her captor would return, if only to break her from this unbearable state of indecision and fear, but the other part was well aware that his return could signal the end of her very life. Her life had always seemed so normal before that incident a couple of months ago. Now, it seemed to teem with unfortunate occurrences over which she had no control.

"Still here?" came a snide remark from the area of the door. Kagome jumped to her feet though she managed to refrain from screaming. A tall outline blocked the door.

There was something strangely familiar about this encounter that she could not quite put her finger on. It was almost as if she had been in this situation once before. Regardless, she focused her attention on the man and replied with as steady a voice as she could muster, "What?"

A scoff. "Don't tell me you didn't have the brains to check if the door was actually locked."

If there was ever a time that Kagome wanted to shoot herself, now was it. Of all the stupid things she could have done, she had gone and assumed that Inuyasha had locked her in, where it was now obvious that he had not.

Shaking his head at the girl's stupidity or plain lack of common sense, he muttered, "Of all the females of this world, I had to go save one this dense. And here I was hoping to come home to some peace and quiet."

An indignant retort worked its way to Kagome's mouth, but she bit her tongue to keep it in. She had obviously already angered him once; it would not be wise to do so again. Instead, she breathed deeply and let it out slowly before carefully saying, "If that's the case, then you certainly wouldn't mind me going home now?"

He swaggered into the room until he was standing right next to her and shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, if you wanna run into more pervs like the Thunder Sisters. I couldn't care less."

He dropped his gaze down to her eyes and found them an extraordinarily beautiful shade of blue. When had he studied her face earlier her eyes had been shut, but now that they were open, he found himself inexplicably drawn to them. His head lowered ever so slowly and something registered subconsciously that she was tiptoeing to close the distance between them. He tilted his head ever so slightly to the right, ready to capture her lips in his own when her accusing voice froze him.

"It was you!"


	6. I Never Was Much of A Morning Person

**A/N: **Well now. I must say that I'm quite proud of myself. It's not often that I get the next chapter out this quickly and it's even slightly longer than usual. Anyway, hope all you lovely couples out there had a most wonderful Valentine's Day. As for me and the rest of the singles out there, hope y'all had a most wonderful Singles Awareness Day! Oh, and I know I'm a couple of days early, but Happy Chinese New Year too! (I could use some cash if you feel like giving me a red envelope...a college kid only has so much money, ya know...if not, reviews will do nicely too!)

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**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 5: Never was Much of a Morning Person**

Inuyasha reeled back on his heels, completely aghast at what he had almost done. He barely knew this girl, didn't even know her name, and he had nearly kissed her. His shock at his own lack of self-control hardly passed before the impact of the three little words she spoke finally hit him.

"It was you!" she had insisted.

_What was me?_ he wondered. Could it be that she finally realized that he was the one who had kidnapped her three months ago? He tried to step back but immediately regretted that decision as she had managed to get a death grip on his forelocks causing him to flinch in pain, wondering how many hairs she had effectively migrated to the floor. She gingerly knocked back the hood he had pulled over his face—he, in too much shock to stop her—and gasped, her hold on his jacket loosened, when she saw the two triangular appendages affixed to the top of his head. He cringed at her response, preparing himself for the crazed woman to bolt at any time.

Yet the girl did what he least expected.

She leapt into his arms as tears of joy streamed down her face, her grasp around his neck surprisingly strong. "Oh God, I thought I was going insane. But now that I know you're real…Oh God, you're real! I'm so happy right now, I could kiss you!"

The blood rushed to Inuyasha's face when she spoke those words. He had been far closer to doing so than the girl might have realized. Still, he was a complete novice in human relations, and he pried her arms off of him as he snarled, "What the hell are you going on about, bitch?"

Kagome was too ecstatic to be offended by his wonderful choice of words. She quickly wiped off the small beads of salted water with her fingertips and explained, "You rescued me, three months ago. You let me out of that room. When I woke up after you let me out, it was as if nothing had changed. I thought I was insane, but now that I know you're real, I know that it wasn't just a figment of my imagination. How'd you get me back home without my family noticing, anyway?"

"How do you know it was me?" he asked roughly, but not without wonder. He had dreamed that he had done something along those lines, but he didn't think anymore of it. It was one of those sweet dreams in which he had royally pissed off Naraku; how it suddenly became reality was a mystery to him.

"Well, your…uh"—she seemed to be at a loss for words—"ears kinda gave it away. Are those real, by the way?" She tiptoed and reached out her hands to give the strange appendages a good rub but was stopped mid-way by a threatening growl from the owner of the ears. Still too excited to notice that her kidnapper and savior was not human, she retracted her hands and continued with a shrug, "Besides, I don't think I could ever forget your eyes." She stopped short, the implication of her words finally sinking in. A blush reddened her cheeks, and the floor all of a sudden seemed rather intriguing.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—for her, Inuyasha with all his experience in interpersonal relations—close to zero—did not understand that her words held any second meaning and took it completely the wrong way. "What, so now you've got a problem with my eyes?"

Kagome shot him a look of utter surprise and sputtered, "That's not what I meant! I just meant that they're a really unique shade of gold that I've never seen before! Why are you making everything so difficult?"

He replied with a snort and brushed past her, his right side ramming into hers, the force of which knocked her back onto the couch. "Get outta here," he growled lowly as he strode through the open door she had noticed earlier and slammed it behind him.

"Fine then," she muttered darkly to herself as she glared small projectiles at the man's fading form.

She pushed herself off the couch and was about to make her way to the door before she remembered her astute fear of the dark. Not to mention the fact that she had no clue in hell where she was; however, her sense of self-preservation was strong enough to know that this was not a neighborhood in which it would be wise to wander about aimlessly alone. She'd already experienced the wonderful outcome of doing that.

Still, was it safer to go out in the streets or was it safer hanging around an alleged serial murderer? Either way, her choice was rather bleak. Now that she was alone again, her initial fear about Inuyasha returned, though she still found it hard to reconcile the fact that he would save her only to kill her.

His eyes, although clearly human, held a wild air about them that suggested something far more feral than she dared think about, never mind they were gold. What kind of person had golden eyes? Perhaps they were colored contacts? No, she had studied them closely and had not seen the outer fringes of contacts on the white of his eyes. Kagome's sighed wistfully when she remembered the feeling of his tresses in her hands. For a man who seemed so disorganized and rough, his hair was strangely soft, almost as if she had been running her slender fingers through a well-groomed dog's fur. Then there was the matter of his ears. Were they real?

If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn that he was something alike to the creatures that her grandfather used to talk about all the time when she was younger, that he was a breed of demon—half-demon to be specific. She knew the stories well. After all, her grandfather was the priest of the family-owned shrine and knew more stories than his rather senile appearance belied. In fact, she thought with a smile, she couldn't help but wonder if his poor memory was a result of using his brain as a virtual story-storehouse.

Perhaps this Inuyasha character had also heard of these stories and thus decided to get a disturbing surgery to affix the ears upon his head. The lack of sanity would fall in line with his reputation as a killer. Then again, from her vast knowledge about killers—which mostly came from watching Law & Order: Criminal Intent and the like—they were generally sane, albeit twisted, people who were geniuses. This Inuyasha seemed to be a little lacking in that particular department.

Then there was the whole problem with the Thunders Brothers, or whoever they were. They certainly did not look human, either. Other than the crimson eyes, she remembered that their ears had been slightly pointed and, if her memory served her correctly, fangs had protruded from their lips. Was this just some underground trend within the ghettos to pretend to be demons? Because of course they couldn't be real…could they? No, of course not.

Kagome was not convinced. At all.

…

Inuyasha landed a frustrated punch on his punching bag and scowled when he noticed that a small fissure had formed, and a trickle of sand had begun to pour out of the abused bag. Yanking open a drawer in his desk, his mood soured even further when he found that he was out of the ever-essential-good-for-everything duck tape. "Damn it!"

Why the hell did he try to play nice guy and save the obnoxious wench anyway? He was not supposed to exist to human society and now suddenly this girl knew about his presence. If Naraku ever found out, Inuyasha was a dead man. No, he wouldn't destroy Inuyasha. Inuyasha still had worth—however little it may be—to Naraku. The girl, however, was a different story.

He clambered into bed and threw a pillow over his head in a futile attempt to stop thinking and to start sleeping. Despite his valiant attempts, however, he could not clear his mind of the girl who was becoming an increasing nuisance in his life. He still did not understand why he cared at all. She was not his responsibility. So let her go get herself killed. It was just one less human in this planet of useless humans anyway.

But she had touched—even hugged—him regardless of his unusual appearance. She had smiled joyfully at him, and regardless of how hard he tried, he could not exorcise the feeling of contentment when she was around. A faint trace of a gentle smile hovered about his lips.

But she was annoying and stubborn and made absolutely no sense at all. He remembered her words darkly, his lips pulling down into a frown and his eyes narrowing. She had called him a murderer and was not afraid to stand up to him.

That thought lingered in his mind a little longer than expected as he drifted off into sleep. She wasn't afraid of him.

…

Kagome growled a rather unfeminine growl as she shifted positions once again. This particular couch was most certainly not the most comfortable piece of furniture she had ever slept on, nor did it help that she had no other covering other than the thin clothes she was wearing. It was not supposed to be this cold at night. The weather report told her so. The fact that it was summer told her so.

_Damn the weatherman_, she thought threateningly as she curled into an even tighter ball. She had chosen at last to stay, more willing to face the temperamental killer than to go out into the streets alone. After all, despite Inuyasha's menacing attitude, he really hadn't done anything to hurt her. Yet, anyway. Still, something in her heart told her that he could be trusted. Maybe it was what they call a woman's intuition, but she simply could not believe that he was as bad as his attitude made him out to be. Then again, perhaps it was simply her sleep-deprived brain unwilling to function any more than it had to.

Sleep eluded her, however, and she sat up suddenly with a loud sigh. Perhaps she should look around for something to cover herself with? This was a man's apartment, after all. Shouldn't there be laundry lying around all over the place? Momentarily shoving aside her nyctophobia, she dropped to her knees and scoured the floor with her hands for anything that would provide her with more warmth. Soon enough, her hands landed upon a pile of clothes.

She tried to ignore the cynical voice in her head that wondered if they would be bloodstained or not. At this time of night, she was quite far from a correct state of mind and really couldn't care less if her treasure trove was soiled or clean.

Grabbing a couple of articles of clothing, she retreated to her den of safety—also known as the couch—and piled the clothes on top of herself haphazardly. With a sigh of contentment, she relaxed her mind and allowed herself to drift into sleep. Just before losing consciousness to the world, she found herself vaguely thinking that the scent of his clothes was far from revolting. Rather, there was even something soothing about it.

…

"Ah damn it!"

The soft curse drifted into Inuyasha's sensitive ears. He grumbled and pulled his blanket over the pillow that was already covering his head as he tried to ignore the noise. As he nearly slipped back into the wonderful world of dreams, a loud crash that sounded like something had shattered caused him to bolt up in bed and look around in confusion.

"What the hell?" He looked over at his clock and with a livid realization noticed that it was only 7:36. Who in their right mind got up at 7:36? Then he was suddenly struck with another epiphany. Why the bloody hell was there somebody in his apartment at 7:36 in the morning?

Not bothering to pull a shirt on over his bare chest or a pair of pants over his boxers, Inuyasha angrily threw open his bedroom door, ready to rip off the head of whichever idiot had felt it necessary to wake him up this early, when he was met with the strange—yet, not altogether unwelcome—spectacle of that girl in his kitchen, or at least what passed for his kitchen anyway.

When the girl heard the door open, she glanced at him quickly before turning back to her own business…before turning back to him again and staring unabashedly at the naked and well-developed torso of her unwilling host. Her mouth fell open slightly as she ran her eyes over his body, and Inuyasha wasn't sure whether to blush or to be flattered by her reaction. He cleared his throat nervously and the girl snapped her gaze away quickly, the blood rushing to her face. He watched her curiously, unable to keep the amused smirk from his face as she composed herself. He may be an idiot when it comes to communication, but he wasn't fool enough to not know that she was impressed, to say the least.

When she turned back to face him, carefully ensuring that her eyes stayed trained on his face, she greeted him with a cheery, "Good morning!"

Surprised and still not quite awake, he mumbled a confused, "G'mornin."

"Sorry if I woke you up. I accidentally dropped one of your dishes." Seeing Inuyasha's furrowed brow and thinking that she had angered him, she quickly said, "I'm really sorry. I'll buy you a new one, if you want."

Inuyasha shook his head. "Whatever."

The girl continued her rather one-sided conversation. "Yeah, I usually don't wake up this early, but I couldn't fall back asleep so I thought I'd make a little breakfast." She chuckled nervously. In reality, she had wanted to wake up early so that she could make a quick escape before remembering she had absolutely no idea where she was. Nor did she really want to be found asleep the next morning by a raging murderer. Her expression suddenly changed to a rather condemning one as she accused, "You don't have much of a selection of food here."

Inuyasha was about to mumble an apology when he remembered that this was _his_ place and that _she_ wasn't gone yet. Suddenly, his placate attitude disappeared as his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Why the hell are you still here?"

Kagome scowled at him, almost as if she was silently declaring that that was the dumbest she had ever heard anyone ask before. "Do you want the honest answer or the not-so-honest answer?"

"What?"

She continued, completely ignoring his response. "Well, the not-so-honest answer is that I couldn't bring myself to leave you cause you're just that attractive"—she wisely chose not to mention that the reason she called it the 'not-so-honest answer' was because it wasn't totally untrue—"and the honest reason is that I don't know how to get home from here and I'd rather not go through last night's fiasco again. That good enough?"

Inuyasha simply stared at her. Finally, after making her quite uncomfortable under his unwavering scrutiny, he said, "Are you insane?"

Kagome stared at him incredulously. It was bad enough that she had been caught eyeing his excellent physique, but now he just had to insult the one thing about which she was uncertain: her mind. Honestly, though, she could not help but put Inuyasha's careless and harsh question to heart. When had she gone from painfully normal to borderline insane, if not already past that?

Her eyes narrowed as she replied, "And this is coming from the person who decided that life wasn't interesting enough so minus well get dog ears implanted on his head."

She expected him to get angry. She expected him to lash back with caustic words. She expected the fight to go on.

But he did none of those things. Instead, a shocked expression of surprise and ill-concealed pain flashed across his countenance. His shoulder sagged and his ears—if she was not mistaken—drooped causing to wonder if fake ears could twitch and move about so realistically like that. He looked indecisive for a moment before he slowly made his way toward Kagome.

She should have been afraid of his calmness. She should have been worried about his sudden shift in attitude. Yet, she wasn't. Something about the way he appeared so beaten told her that he wasn't going to hurt her.

She glanced down at her feet, embarrassed though she wasn't entirely sure why, as Inuyasha closed the distance between them. With a clawed hand, he tilted her chin up so that her eyes met his. It was at this time that she finally noticed that his hands were clawed. The past night had been far too dark to notice anything other his eye color and his ears, but now that she saw them in the light, she finally understood that this was who he was. He hadn't undergone any surgery; this was who he naturally was.

"You don't know the first thing about me, girl, so don't pretend like you do," he whispered. Nothing menacing laced his voice, yet she could hear—no, feel—the restrained emotions he held back. It wasn't so much anger as it was a type of sadness that cut into her heart and made her feel like an ass for excavating what was obviously a sore subject for the man.

Tongue-tied, Kagome could only timidly spit out, "I'm sorry."

Inuyasha grunted. He didn't need any pity, especially not from this irritating girl who'd all of a sudden made his complex life that much more complicated. Okay, so it wasn't really much of a complex life to begin with. All he ever really did was work-out, eat, sleep, and do the occasional job when Naraku called him up. But still. She had the gall to waltz into his life, diss his ears, and make a complete mess out of his perfectly normal life. Never mind the fact that it wasn't normal either.

Tension filled the room as neither of the occupants was willing to shatter the silence. Fortunately, the breakfast did.

"Shit!" exclaimed the girl—her mind subconsciously registering the fact that she'd been cussing far more than she usually did in the past day or so—as the smell of burnt eggs drifted to her nose. She left Inuyasha in a quiet stupor, wondering how the girl could be moving about in his kitchen like she owned it.

Suddenly, the shrill ring of his phone broke him from his reverie. His eyes widened. Could it be that Naraku already knew? That was impossible! Shaking his head and gathering his wits about him, he picked up the phone.

"What d'ya want?" he said gruffly. He could see the girl watching him closely.

_"When will you learn some manners?"_ replied the man on the other end.

"Just get on with it." Inuyasha could almost see the evil lilt gracing the man's face.

_"I want the girl, Inuyasha."_

He felt his heart suddenly raced, but he tried to maintain as steady a voice as he could manage. "What the bloody hell are you going on about?"

_"Find her. You know the consequences if you don't."_

Inuyasha responded with a grumble before hanging up. His eyes briefly glanced over at the girl, who quickly averted her gaze back to the omelet she was making, and rolled his eyes. She was far more trouble than she was worth.

With an irritated sigh, Inuyasha made for the door, but was stopped by her voice. "Wait!"

"What?" He was not in the mood for this.

"Can you take me home?" her voice filled with hope.

"No," he said curtly.

"Why not?"

"Cause I said so." A brief pause of consideration. "Maybe when I come back." He once again reached to open the door.

"Wait!"

He growled audibly. If this wasn't something important…

The girl lowered her head slightly, but he could still make out the faint hues of pink that colored her cheeks. "Are you gonna put a shirt on?"

Inuyasha glanced down and began turning his own shade of red. "Yes, I was just testing to see if the doorknob worked." He stalked to the sofa—_when did his pile of laundry transfer from the floor to the couch? _he wondered—and picked out a dark red t-shirt and a pair of loose jeans. He didn't bother going back to his room to change since he was only pulling clothes on top anyway. However, he did not fail to notice that the blush on the girl's face darkened.

"I'm not saving you again, wench, if you wander out of my apartment and get yourself in another bind. Oh, and don't go in my room!" he called out, picking up a black bandana as he strode out the door.

"My name is not 'wench,' nor is it 'bitch.' My name is Kagome. Get it right," she mumbled softly, not expecting him to hear.

"Fine, then, _Kagome_." The girl started in surprise when his distant voice made its way to her ears. "I expect food when I get back!"

_Idiot_, she thought, this time ensuring that she said nothing aloud.

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A/N: Anyway, hope that was enjoyable. If you're worried about the appearance of other characters, don't worry, I'm working on it. The next chapter will probably mostly oriented on either Sango, Miroku or both...I haven't exactly figured out their exact roles yet. Also, there will be more plot next chapter instead of just mindless banter (regardless of how much fun that is). So yeah. Stay tuned and leave a review!


	7. Some Things Never Change

**A/N: **Well, midterm season is almost over. My last one is today...(chem...yuck) so I should be home free until finals (which is in like 4 weeks...i hate the freaking quarter system). Anyway, here's another chappie and it seems like they're only getting longer. I'm still not sure if that's a good thing or not, though. Many thanks to reviewers cause, believe it or not, it's actually very encouraging to a writer when her works are recognized.

Alrighty, well, grab a cookie, enjoy, and leave a review!

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**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 6: Some Things Never Change, But Most Things Do**

The agent restrained the shudder from showing on his amiable face as he countered the other man's—could he really be considered such?—cold gaze. He was not easily scared, but this particular man struck a chord deep within him that elicited the greatest respect, which was indeed fear.

"Mr. Taji," he began, but got no further.

"Have you found my fool of a half-brother?" His golden eyes flashed in distaste as he spoke the word 'brother.' Yet that was the only indication of emotion he displayed in his stoic demeanor.

"Mr. Taji," he began again, this time relieved that the other man allowed him to go on, "we have procured information concerning your—" he paused for a moment, searching carefully for a word that would not offend the intimidating man—"missing relative, but we are not certain if the information is reliable. However, we believe we can make contact shortly if all goes well."

The taller man nodded curtly in response, apparently at least approving of the agent's report. "That will do, Agent Yoshida."

The agent took that as his cue to leave and retreated steadily, not wanting to show that he had been in any way unsettled. He was, after all, still a man.

…

The young teacher ran a nervous hand over her dark brown hair that was pulled into a high ponytail, her magenta eyes darting about the road in a distracted manner as she crossed the street. This was not good. Of all the horrendous circumstances that she could imagine, this was, by far, one of the worst.

Never mind the slight obstacle that loomed in front of her. She looked up in apprehension at the dizzying height of stairs and whistled. With a sigh, she braced herself and began the arduous climb up the so-called "front steps" of the Higurashi residence.

With only a slight pant and not yet even breaking a sweat—_guess I'm in better shape than I thought_, she mused silently—the teacher made it to the front door. After collecting herself and taking a couple of deep breaths, she knocked firmly on the wooden apparatus otherwise known as the door.

"Oh Sango! I'm so glad you could make it!" cried Mrs. Higurashi when she opened the door. She ran into the younger woman's arms and wept freely. "She's missing. My baby girl is missing!"

"Shh," comforted Sango, compassionately patting the distressed mother's back. "It's going to be okay. Kagome is no ordinary girl. She'll be fine."

However, apparently her words turned out to be the wrong ones as Mrs. Higurashi broke out into even louder sobs. "That's precisely _why_ I'm so worried! You know as well as I do that Kagome—" She stopped herself suddenly, her face contorting in horror as if appalled as to what she had almost said, and changed the topic altogether. "Where are my manners? Please, come in, come in."

Sango nodded warmly and kicked off her sneakers—she'd never been one who liked wearing anything even remotely formal—as she entered the home. Despite the inhumane number of steps it required to even get to the front door, the home itself was not very large. Yet she could immediately tell that the house was a family-oriented home that held many happy memories. Trinkets made by the Higurashi siblings in times past adorned the mantels, and every empty wall was blanketed with pictures of family and friends. She couldn't help the slight envy from sneaking up on her. She'd had a happy and warm home at one time, but that was many years ago and she had grown up too soon to be able to thoroughly enjoy those moments.

Shaking herself of those depressing thoughts, she turned to the woman who was currently in need of comfort and gently set her down on the couch before sitting down next to her. "So, would you like to tell me what happened?" she asked kindly, almost as if she was the mother. She supposed it was the years spent taking care of her younger brother, during which she had tackled all the roles of mother, father, and sister.

Mrs. Higurashi sighed, her tears momentarily stemmed. If there was anything about that woman, it was that she was the perfect picture of a housewife. There was nothing more important to a housewife than the fact that there was a guest in the house. "Kagome went out with Eri the other day to go shopping. At first I wasn't too worried when she didn't get back when she said she would. She is a grown girl after all. But when I woke up this morning, Kagome hadn't even come home and she didn't even call or leave a message. She's never that irresponsible."

Sango frowned. "Are you sure she didn't just stay over at Eri's home and was too tired to call home maybe?"

"No, I called Eri first thing this morning, and she said that they had parted ways last night."

"Has Kagome been acting any…differently lately? Could it be that, well, you know."

Mrs. Higurashi shook her head. "I don't know, Sango. I just don't know." Her love for her daughter won over her housewife tendencies and she broke down once again. "Where's my baby girl?"

Sango wrapped her arms around the distraught mother and held her as she cried for several minutes. She remembered a time when her own mother had once held her in her arms like this. It'd been nearly twelve years since her mother was taken away, but Sango could still hear her loving voice resounding in her ears. She could still feel the soft kisses placed on her forehead whenever she was sick. She could still see the smiling face watching over her, guarding her. But that was twelve years ago.

In twelve years, Sango had learned not only to take care of herself, but also of her brother and her workaholic father. It wasn't that he didn't love his children. He was simply too shattered and broken-hearted that he didn't know what to do with himself. Thus, he devoted all his time and blood to this one project. This project that Sango had heard about all her life. This project that had stolen whatever remained of her father and eventually his life.

It would be so easy to blame this woman she was holding right now. Or better yet, to blame _her_. But she couldn't do it. Sango knew in the depths of her heart that it was neither Mrs. Higurashi's fault nor was it _her_ fault. If anything, it was fate's fault. But Sango did not believe in fate. Thus, in the end, it was simply the life that she'd been given.

She was broken from her reverie when Mrs. Higurashi suddenly sat straight up, her back rigid at her eyes widened. "I remember something. But does it really mean anything?" she wondered aloud, her words meant more for herself than for the taller girl. She fell silent as she contemplated the issue.

"What? What do you remember?" prodded Sango.

Mrs. Higurashi furrowed her brows. "Well, about three months ago, Kagome woke up one Saturday morning and thought that she'd been gone since Wednesday. But she was home that whole time. She never mentioned it again, so I didn't think much about it, but now that I do think about it, it's really quite strange that she would say anything like that."

The two concerned women fell into silence. "Well," spoke Sango after a long moment of deliberation, "I think it's time I called in a couple of favors."

With that, she gave Mrs. Higurashi a reassuring smile and hug, and went on her way to look for a family she hadn't seen in eight years.

…

Miroku pinched the bridge of his nose tightly as he was once again stuck in traffic. That last encounter had been anything but pleasant and chills still racked him. Regardless, it was part of the job description, and he wasn't about to back down no matter how difficult—_or impossible_, thought the cynical little voice in the back of his mind—it may prove to be.

Sighing dejectedly, his thoughts wandered back to a certain girl that had plagued him nearly all his life. He hadn't seen her in how many years now? Seven, eight? His father used to tell him to get over her and that it was nothing but a teenage crush but soon gave up when he saw that his son still pined after the girl. Miroku himself did not and could not understand why he kept thinking about her. She had made it quite clear all those years ago that she had no interest in him. At all. But still, he could not rid himself of the image of her eyes. Those eyes that said she was in pain and suffering but refused to allow anyone see her break down. She had a strength and wisdom beyond her years yet she was so fragile, though she'd never admit it to anybody, never mind him.

A blaring honk from the car behind him snapped him from his thoughts as he concentrated on making it back to his home without getting slaughtered by road rage. Damn, people in Tokyo were ruthless when it came to driving.

After another two hours of sitting in stop-and-go traffic, Miroku laughed in triumph, his violet eyes sparkling with the joy of knowing he could soon go meet his pillow, when he finally made it to his apartment complex's parking structure.

"Hey Kei," he greeted the middle-aged woman who manned the front desk during the grave yard shift.

"Good evening Miroku," she replied good-naturedly. "There's a woman waiting for you upstairs."

_Not again,_ he mentally groaned. Still, he had appearances to keep up and he carefully kept the scowl from showing on his face. He laughed arrogantly. "Just can't seem to keep them away from me."

Kei rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. Miroku was a friendly young man, but she still could not approve of his lecherous tendencies. "Whatever. Just keep it down, will you?"

"But that would mean that I'm not doing my job as a man correctly, and I can't have that, now can I?" He winked knowingly at her before heading off to the elevators.

Kei shook her head. _Men_, she thought wryly before returning to her crossword puzzle.

…

For the past couple of hours, Sango had alternated between pacing anxiously in front of his door and leaning worriedly against the wall across from his door. Part of her was worried about Kagome and her safety, yet an even greater part of her was worried about what to say when she saw him again.

Eight years. Eight years was a long time to go without speaking to one whom she had once considered one of her good friends, if not _the_ best friend she'd ever had. If it weren't for the fact that she had no other choice, she probably wouldn't have even tried looking for him again. She was too embarrassed to do so. After all, she had been the one who had left without saying a word. She had been the one that had broken off all contact. This was not even taking into account the fact that she knew that he liked her in that way.

She slid from her position of leaning against the wall to sitting against the wall, her knees bent inwards and her arms wrapped over her legs. Oh, what to do, what to do? Her childish instincts told her to run, but her adult ones told her to confront her fears. To hell with instincts. They were never right anyway.

Her mood darkened and just as she was about to kick down the door and find a couch to sit on instead of the rather hard carpet of the apartment complex, she heard voices down the hall near the elevator. Two voices to be exact and one was more like the uncontrollable giggling of a flirty woman and the other was the low and seductive voice of a man. Her countenance further soured. Great. Now she had to listen to these people mumble and moan their "intimate" talk.

No, worse. They were coming her way. Not only did she have to listen, they were now giving her a full-on show. She averted her eyes to her shoes when she saw the man—whose face was practically buried in the woman's breasts—grab the woman's behind rather enthusiastically and the woman simply burst into another fit of heated giggles.

_Gross! Go get a freakin' room or something!_ She screamed in her head.

Unfortunately for Sango, the room they were heading for was apparently in her direction. Finding her shoes too boring for her liking, her eyes darted to the rip on the left knee of her jeans. Her index finger traced around the hole as she tried valiantly to ignore the incoming sounds of two—for lack of a better word—horny people. The sooner they got on their way, the better.

However, today was not Sango's day and the footsteps stopped right in front of her. "Sango?"

…

Miroku looked from the object of his long-time affections to the object of his current sexual affection and back again. Several times. This was certainly not a predicament that would turn out well.

When Kei had told him there was a woman waiting for him upstairs, he had immediately thought of Misaki Sato, a woman who lived on the same floor as him and with whom he had gone on a couple of dates. There was nothing serious about their relationship; it was purely a sexual attraction. Thus Miroku had assumed that Misaki had told Kei to let him know that she wanted to get laid that night. It wasn't as if she'd never done that before. They sort of had an unspoken agreement that this would solely be a sex-only relationship.

However, this was certainly not the impression he had wanted to make on his long-time crush after eight years of not seeing her.

His voice caught in his throat, and he could do nothing but openly gape at the girl. Pink eye shadow accented her magenta eyes, which were currently wide open with shock. Her gloriously long brown hair was pulled into a high ponytail, wisps of stray locks framing her face. Her lips shimmered slightly from her lip gloss. She was dressed casually and comfortably—like she always did—in a loose t-shirt and ripped jeans. All in all, she hadn't changed save for the maturity that now exuded from her in tidal waves.

"Sango," he finally managed to breathe out again. "What are you doing here?"

…

Sango wasn't sure what she should be feeling. Happy? She was definitely not happy, though she could not be certain why. If he had truly found someone he loved, why shouldn't she be happy for him? Jealous? No, she'd never even thought about dating him back in high school for fear that it would ruin a perfectly good friendship. Though she couldn't remember him being quite this hot when back then. Angry? She could say with a degree certainty that she was indeed angry, but she wasn't sure if it was because he was with another woman or if it was because of his complete lack of discretion when it came to showing his affections.

His voice brought her back to reality. What was she doing here? What _was_ she doing here? Ah yes, calling in a favor.

She crawled to her feet, a little less gracefully than she would have liked since her legs had fallen asleep, and stood to face the boy—now man—who had once been her best friend. "Hello Miroku. It's been a while." The fact that she had somehow managed to keep her voice steady was a miracle in and of itself and she couldn't help but silently congratulate herself for maintaining a cool head. Not that there was any reason she wouldn't be able to do so of course…

"Uh, yeah. What, eight years now?" He began with a stutter, but his smoothness quickly returned to him when he realized that he had an image to uphold. Sango only nodded, her eyes drifting involuntarily to the woman in his arms before resting on his eyes again.

He had sure changed. She remembered back then that he had always been a bit of a nerd. He'd always been picked on throughout elementary, middle, and high school. Had it not been for Sango, he probably would have been beaten to death several times in fact. It was amusing thinking back on it now how their roles seemed to be the exact opposite of the classical stereotype. Here he was this geek with horrendous glasses and braces to boot who was always getting beat up for his lunch money or what not, and here she was this girl that had bested many of the toughest boys in fights. Regardless, they had been close friends ever since the second grade—even through the whole "cooties" stage—up until Sango moved away. Mostly it was because their fathers were good friends, but she couldn't help but wonder if it was also because of the fact that both were somewhat the outcasts throughout the primary school. Of course, Sango was well-respected among the boys, but very few girls were willing to approach one quite as violent as she. And Miroku…well, Miroku just didn't have any friends period.

He had always been scrawny for his age, which was quite humorous considering his father was a tank of a man who had won numerous—to say the least—awards throughout his high school and university career in several different sports. Furthermore, the man was a prized government agent—the only reason she knew was because of her father's own connections with the government—whereas his son was a living punching bag.

But, now as she studied him, she could see little resemblance to the borderline-emaciated boy in the now well-built and tall—several inches taller than her own five feet and six inches—man. Nor did his character hold any similarities. The Miroku of the past was terrified by girls and their ability to belittle and deride one into nothingness, Sango being the one exception. He was extraordinarily shy and this was most certainly a characteristic that the Miroku of the present did not possess.

In fact, he was so different that Sango had a difficult time believing that this was the same little boy who had crushed on her ever since middle school. Yet, one look into his deep violet eyes and she knew it was the same person. Even if everything else about him changed, he couldn't change the innocent glow—though dimmed and despite how not-innocent he was now—that seemed to radiate from him. Deep inside, he was still that scared little boy who relied on Sango to be his closest friend.

Miroku cleared his throat, the silence bearing down on him oppressively. "So what brings you to my humble abode at this time of night?"

Sango scoffed. "I've been here for three hours now."

His eyebrow quirked and she did not like the look of the smirk on his lips. "I knew you'd miss me."

His insinuation was not lost on Sango, and she decided that she really did not like this new Miroku. Yes, he had been on the nerdy side in the past, but he was still kind and knew the meaning of respect. This was a problem indeed, knowing that she would have to work with this perverted Miroku if she wanted to find her missing former-student. When her eyes shifted again to the other woman, it took all of her restraint not to resolve this problem the way she normally did—by beating the bloody pulp of it.

Fortunately for him, Miroku had now become a rather perceptive man and noticed that the presence of his "friend with benefits" was upsetting Sango. "Hey Misaki. Why don't you head back tonight? We'll finish this up some other time," he said with a seductive grin and a pinch on her butt.

Misaki, to her credit, did not need to be told twice as she had long noticed the look of death emanating from the stranger's eyes. She liked Miroku because he was paradise in bed, but no way was she going to risk her personal safety for a good screw. "I'll see ya later," she called out as she made her way back to her apartment.

When she was gone, Miroku turned his gaze back to Sango and spread out his arms. "What, no welcome hug?"

Sango wasn't sure what to say. Nor was she sure what she ought to do, for that matter. If she had been reunited—she grimaced inwardly, searching for a different word—with Miroku under different circumstances, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she wouldn't fall into his embrace happily, knowing that he wasn't angry at her sudden departure. But the mere fact that she was faced with this particular Miroku at this particular time did not sit well with her.

Miroku could see the uncertainty in her eyes and was pained by it. He carefully masked his hurt before a façade of ignorant bliss. "It hasn't been so long that you're scared of me now, has it Sango?"

She raised an eyebrow. He had definitely changed. Back then, he never would have known to goad her with that kind of reverse psychology. "Hell no," she responded with the faint trace of a smile, her arms looping around Miroku's neck for a friendly hug.

For a moment, she felt like they had gone back to old times again, of course minus the fact that she'd always been taller than him throughout their time together and now she had to be on her tiptoes to reach her arms around him. Unfortunately, that moment of serenity was broken when Sango was introduced to one of the more—for lack of a better word—disturbing habits that Miroku had developed over the years.

His hands trailed further down her back and rested comfortably on her rear. Oblivious—or perhaps mock-oblivious—to the boiling blood that coursed through the teacher, he closed his eyes in delight as his rogue hands acted out what he had wanted to do for a long time. His smile faded however, when a swift knee in his groin had him doubling over.

"You freaking pervert!" screamed Sango, assuredly waking several of Miroku's neighbors.

He gasped in pain, beads of sweat matting his dark hair. "Damn Sango. You haven't changed a bit," he managed to grate out.

Despite herself and her feminist personality, she couldn't help but feel a little guilty. It was no joke when a man gets hit there, and she had had no reserve doing it. Still, he had no right to just rub her butt like that. "Well, that's what you get for touching me like that. Do that again and I'll do more than just knee you."

He threw his hands up in surrender. "Alright, alright! Bad habits die hard."

"Since when did you develop the habit of groping people?" she grumbled.

"Since you left."

Her eyes met his in surprise before turning away in guilt. Was it she that had caused this change to come upon him? Was it really her fault?

Miroku noticed the change in her luscious eyes and straightened as he fished for his keys. "Hey, I'm just kidding you know. I'm not the type of guy that gets tied down so easily." _What a lie_, he sighed mentally. "Anyway, so you still haven't told me what you're doing here."

Sango flinched, wondering just how much she should say. One would think that she would have thought this all out before in the three hours or so that she'd been waiting, but to be perfectly honest, other things had occupied her mind during that time span. Finally, she said, "I think we should go inside to talk."

Noticing the serious look on her face, Miroku nodded and shed his frivolous attitude. Something was up and he had a feeling it wasn't going to be easy to resolve.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the complete lack of Inu/Kag stuff, but like I said last chapter, I wanted to develop a couple of premises before going on with their relationship. This is the most complex plot I've ever tried (and though I've only published 6 stories, I can assure that I have many, many, many more just waiting to get my attention sitting on my computer) and I'm just hoping that it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass later as I am horrid at making any type of structural outline. But, for the most part, I do know where I want to go with it. It's just a matter of getting there. If it wasn't obvious enough by this chapter, the other main couple will be Mir/San. As of right now, though, they're not exactly on good terms. It'll take a hell of a lot more than good looks for Miroku to dig out of this hole he's gotten into with Sango. I haven't decided whether I want to make another couple with Sess/Kagura, cause if I do, their relationship will most likely be skimped in my hurry to finish and I don't like writing characters with no depth. And that will only serve to make this already long story even longer. Eh, whatever. Whatever comes, comes. Until next time, peoples, smile and enjoy life.


	8. Not My Type of Neighborhood

**A/N**: So, I just watched Pride and Prejudice (the 6-hour version with Colin Firth, NOT the Kiera Knightley version) and I was just thinking how well the Inuyasha characters would actually fit. Thus, I may be spend some time seeing if that works out or not. I know I have enough on my hands as it is, but I just can't ignore it. I mean, come on. It's Pride and Prejudice Inuyasha style. Who wouldn't absolutely love that?

Well, regardless of that little inspiration, I have two weeks until finals so this is likely to be the last chapter I can get out until I'm done with that. But then again, I have a habit of foregoing studying for writing, so who knows. I'm rather unpredictable anyway.

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 7: Not My Type of Neighborhood**

Year 19, Month 2, Day 17

_It has been over three years since I have touched this journal. Three years since I have given up on the Project. Three years since I decided that Kagome should and deserves to have a normal life. Even now, as my fingers rest lightly on the keyboard and my eyes trained on the monitor I once spent so many hours slaving over, I wonder if there's another way to resolve this rather problematic predicament than to resort to this._

_I wish I could, but I cannot. Kagome is too much of a danger to have her whereabouts unknown. If…God, how it pains me to write this! If Kagome is not found within the next twenty-four hours, I will have no choice. To all that is good in this world, I pray that this agent character knows what he's doing! If not, my poor child, I am terribly sorry I have brought this upon you._

…

Kagome sat dumbly on the couch, not quite sure what she ought to be doing now. Ever since the incident earlier that morning, Inuyasha had not returned, leaving a rather anxious Kagome in his wake. She doubted that he had a workplace to report to considering his very name bore the designation bestowed upon the recent shooting spree, so he had no reason to be out and about for _that_ particular purpose. She had a nagging feeling that his absence was the result of the phone call he had received earlier, and she couldn't shake the apprehension that he had just obtained the go-ahead to take out some poor unfortunate soul.

Thus, steeling herself for whatever may come, she resolved to leave immediately. She had made it out the door—noting briefly that Inuyasha resided in apartment 4D—and halfway down the stairs—the integrity of the elevators a little too dubious for her liking—before the resounding _bang_ of a gun shocked her into a stupor, which lasted only a fraction of a second before she retreated to the safety of Inuyasha's apartment. Slamming the door behind her and smashing the bolt shut, Kagome panted heavily as she slid to her bottom, her back pressed against the door, and broke down in sobs.

Only then did the severity of the situation begin to sink in. Here she was in the apartment of some maniac killer who lived in a neighborhood in which gun battles could be considered common entertainment, all this after she'd nearly been violated the night before by a pair of men who looked for all purposes like the demons taken straight out of her grandpa's outrageous stories. Now, she was too afraid to return home, too afraid to face whatever was on the other side of the doors, yet afraid also that Inuyasha might suddenly turn on her.

(Indecision is indeed a dangerous thing. It has the power to transform the bravest hearts to fools, and it paralyzes the weak and strong alike. It is an equalizer not of equivalent strength as death—for everyone knows that death is _the_ great equalizer—but it certainly comes rather close. When faced with this proverbial catch twenty-two, one can only attempt to choose the lesser of two evils. It is so easy for us as outsiders to decide which is the lesser evil, and so effortless for us to forget that those ensnared in the coup often cannot think clearly. Thus, think not too harshly on the poor girl; as we've already established in chapter one, she is the epitome of normal and her mind can only follow the guidelines of what a normal person would do in a situation such as this. Of course, this leads me to beg you—dear reader—to momentarily disregard my earlier allusion to the fact that she is no ordinary girl.)

It was during this state of utter desolation that Inuyasha decided to return home. Rather, attempted to return home anyway. A certain body mass was still planted in front of his door, and it took all his self-restraint not to simply shove the door open, thus effectively displacing the young woman from her position. Instead, he chose the slightly more edifying route of banging his fist against the door, which—he soon found to his satisfaction—also succeeded in effectively displacing the young woman from her position.

Kagome practically dove behind the couch and shrank herself into a small ball, her eyes clenched closed and her teeth ground tightly together. The onset of tears formulated at the corner of her eyes as she refused to watch who might be coming after her _this_ time.

"Oi, wench. What the hell do you think you're doing?"

…

Every single one of her compressed emotions snapped as she sprang to her feet and riveted blazing eyes on Inuyasha. He inadvertently took one step back when he noticed the slightly pink aura that enshrouded the emotional unstable—_probably mentally unstable too,_ he thought—girl. It was this same aura that had blown Hiten and Manten into disintegration. And suddenly he understood.

The aura faded as soon as it had come, but Kagome's cobalt blue eyes still shone with such intense ferocity that they were stunning—in more ways than one. "You will bring me home, and you will bring me home now. I don't give a damn who you are or what you've done. Just let me go home and I'll pretend this whole ordeal never happened."

Inuyasha gulped audibly. He was not one who was intimidated easily, but that flare of light that emanated from her did not bode well with him. She was like a time bomb that could set off at any moment, yet no one knew when that moment would come.

_No wonder Naraku wanted her. Why did he let her go? Or was he the one who did this to her? _

Out loud, he smirked, "What, you scared now?"

"Hell yes, I'm scared. I'm freaking petrified, you poor excuse of a man! Do you think I like being molested? Do you think I go looking for trouble all the time? God, do you even think at all?"

He wasn't sure how she went from counting her miseries to insulting him, but he did not like being insulted. He growled as he stepped closer to her, using his superior height to intimidate the slight-framed girl. "You know, you've really got a problem. You seem to forget that this is my place and I'm in charge here. I'll tell you when you can leave. But as of right now, you can't. So why don't you sit your sorry ass down and stop being such a moron!"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously and Inuyasha suddenly had the strong urge to escape from her line of vision. "You can't just lock me in here! That's called kidnapping!"

He snickered, an attempt to hide his slight—very slight, but still present—trepidation. "First of all, you're not locked in here. Why didn't you just leave earlier?"

Suddenly, the anger that had so empowered her depleted out of her body, leaving her completely enervated. Her brilliant blue eyes which had been radiating only moments before dropped to her feet, and her slender hands occupied themselves by fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something witty, but came up with nothing. In the end, she opted for the truth.

"I told you I was scared. It's not everyday I walk outside with the fear of being caught in the crossfire of a gang fight." She smiled sadly, but it was little more than the slight twitch of her lips upwards. "It's not as if I didn't try to leave. I just…can't."

_Damn it, do NOT start crying. Do NOT start crying!_ he screamed at her mentally. He never quite understood why, but ever since he was brought into this existence, he could never stand the tears of a woman. He remembered all too well the rare times that his mother would weep softly to herself, not wanting to alert her young child with her sadness. But he had known. Even then at the tender age of six he had had exceptional senses. He could hear her whimpering. He could smell the salt.

"Whatever," he mumbled.

His eyes were downcast and Kagome suddenly felt guilty for instilling so much sadness upon him. She sighed to herself. Damn her tender heart for making her release those lifelines she had on anger.

"So…do you have cable?" she suddenly asked.

_What?!_ His head snapped up as his poorly concealed surprise amber orbs took in her amused expression. If people could run marathons based on mood swings, that girl would be the world's undisputed champion.

Fortunately, his mouth seemed to work of its own accord even when his head refused to do so. "Cable?"

She nodded as an expression of _duh_ flickered across her countenance. "As in cable TV, you know?"

"I know," he snapped irately.

To his shock, she was not offended nor did the cheery air about her fade. "So? Is that a yes? No? Maybe so?"

"It's a maybe so. I don't watch TV."

She clapped her hands together and motioned for him to follow her to the couch. "Well, then. This would be a good time to check it out then, yeah?"

…

The small child squirmed nervously in the dim interrogation room. One would think that humans would have the common sense not to stick an eight-year-old in the same room they used to beat the shit out of common criminals. Of course, he wasn't exactly the average eight-year-old. In fact, he was much older than that. In human standards anyway.

Regardless of his true age, he was still young for his species and his thinking processes were still that of a child, and any child under these circumstances had the indisputable right to be frightened.

It is a well-known tactic that the recipient of the interrogation was left in the room alone in order to instill doubts in their minds. Once the suspect or witness doubted, all the more easily it was to break them into confession. That's how it was supposed to work, anyhow. Unfortunately, the poor boy could not, for the life of him, understand _why_ they would want to make him confess in the first place. He had been more than willing to oblige, so why did they bother with such a trite ritual?

Humans. He'd never understand them. Of course, he didn't exactly understand adults in general either.

His train of thought was interrupted when the hinges—in dire need of an oiling—of the heavy, reinforced wooden door creaked open. The man who followed was young, probably around his mid-twenties and the child decided that, as far as government agents went, he appeared to be descent enough. His dark eyes were friendly and he wore a disarmingly charming smile as he greeted the youngster.

"Shippou Watanabe?" The child nodded and the smile spread wider across the man's face. "Sorry about the long wait, kiddo, but you know how it is. The government has laid down laws that demons must be retained until a government agent is available for questioning." His voice was like his eyes, kind and soothing.

The child shrugged, his green eyes reflecting unusual maturity. "I know. I've been around longer than you have."

The agent smiled with a nod. "Of course. My apologies."

"None needed."

With the pleasantries out of the way, the agent extended his left hand for a handshake. "I am Agent Yoshida. I have some questions for you."

Shippou glanced at his extended hand then to his smiling face and back to his hand before reaching out—he had to rest his right hand against the table to get enough leverage to reach that high—his own tiny one for a brief handshake that had him feeling like an adult. He nodded cooperatively as he settled back into his seat.

"So Shippou, can you tell me what happened last night?"

The small fox demon lowered his gaze and tried to bite back a sniffle. "Mommy, Daddy…"

The agent reached over and placed a calming hand on Shippou's shoulder. "It's okay. Take your time."

Shippou breathed deeply and tried to bar the painful emotions of watching his parents' murdered before his eyes. "It was the Thunder Brothers. I don't know why, but as long as I can remember, they've been coming after my family wanting this and that. Mommy never really let me see them. Something went wrong this time. When Daddy got news that they were coming to see us again, he made us pack our bags and leave. We drove for a really long time and I fell asleep sometime during the ride, but when I woke up, our car had crashed and…and…"

The poor boy couldn't take it anymore and the flood of tears broke through whatever emotional dam he had previously enacted. "T-the Thunder Brothers f-found us…and…and then D-Daddy made me and M-Mommy to run away while h-he fought them b-by himself. Me and Mommy ran but t-they found us soon. Mommy tried to s-save me when they used their l-lightning on m-me, but M-Mommy got hit instead! When D-Daddy caught up with u-us, he was h-hurt all over and bleeding. The big ugly one, M-Manten, hurled a blast of lightning from his mouth and k-killed Daddy too! I thought I was gonna die too, b-but then this girl comes a-and stops them. But then Hiten h-holds her down. I t-tried to help her b-but Hiten shoved me and I h-hit my head on something hard. I only remember little b-bits and pieces a-after that, but I know there was a big flash of light."

The agent considered the revelation for a moment before breaking out into a bright smile of encouragement. "Thank you very much, Shippou. That's a lot of useful information you've got there."

The boy nodded sadly as he wiped away the tears from his emerald eyes, and tried to control his sobbing. "Oh yeah. I remember there was another voice there too. I couldn't see anything, but I think I heard the brothers say a name that sounded something like Inu…um…Inu-something."

"Inuyasha?" cut in the agent, a little too urgently.

"Yeah! Inuyasha, that's it!"

A look of shock passed over Agent Yoshida's countenance, but he recovered quickly. "Inuyasha, indeed," he mumbled, an eyebrow twitching in thought. Shaking himself from his reverie, he plastered a radiant smile—complete with sparkling teeth and playful eyes—as he said, "Well, then. I suppose that will be all for now. Since you're an orphan now, you'll have to be retained for a little while until we find parents willing to take you in. I'm sure it won't be long."

Shippou nodded again and watched with lonely eyes as the agent left the boy to his own devices.

…

"Mr. Taji, I have news of your brother."

"Good. Make contact as soon as possible."

"Certainly."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good day, then, Agent Yoshida."

The formidable demon hung up the phone without waiting for a response on the other end. It had been fifty years since he last saw his half-breed brother, and it was not nearly long enough. Still, the boy was his responsibility and his only living kin.

Sesshomaru Taji was many things, but he was first and foremost loyal to his blood.

…

It was official. It's only been two hours, and she was already turning him into a sap. For goodness sake, he just sat through Disney's _High School Musical_ with her and, to his horror, actually enjoyed the damn movie!

How it had all happened, he still wasn't certain, but it was disturbing how quickly the girl had become—regardless of how annoying—a presence in his life. He wasn't sure if he ought to feel grateful or annoyed that she was there, an infuriating spectator of his life that irritated him to no end. Sometimes he wondered if her sole purpose in life was to make his as complicated as possible.

"Inuyasha. Hey Inuyasha!" Kagome's voice brought him back to reality.

"The hell do you want?" he grumbled.

"What do you do?"

The question caught him by surprise—in fact, many things about her caught him by surprise—and he replied with the first thing that came to his mind, "I sleep."

She laughed brightly and shoved him lightly on the arm before her playfulness faded to genuine curiosity. "No…I mean what do you do as a job? If you haven't noticed, your name is all over the news lately. I don't think it'd be all that easy to get a job with that kind of publicity."

"That's for me to know and you to not. Watch it. Keep bugging me and I might just kill you too."

"I don't think it was you."

He looked at her in surprise. Here was a girl who was either extremely kind-hearted or exorbitantly foolish. He was inclined to believe it was the latter. "Why?"

"Because I just know."

"Bullshit."

She ignored his rudeness. It was something she had grown accustomed to by now. She tugged the neckline of her t-shirt back onto her shoulders. One of the first things she had done upon deciding to settle down and watch the wonderful contraption known as the television was to change out of her clothes and into some of his, which were all annoyingly oversized for her slight built. The result, however, was that she had to deal with the issue of modesty in reverse; namely, that his clothes were so big that they refused to stay on properly. Regardless, she still found it infinitely better than to staying in her own set of soiled clothing.

"So, when are you gonna take me home?"

He didn't respond. That was the one question—quite nearly the _only_ question—that she repeatedly asked him and to which he repeatedly refused to give a straight answer. He kept telling himself that the only reason he was keeping her here was to begin his rebellion against Naraku, but he never voiced his reasons to the girl. "When you stop asking me," he mumbled finally.

"Why must you be so difficult?"

"No more difficult than you are."

"Well, I wouldn't be difficult if you brought me home."

"No, you'd still be difficult; I just wouldn't be around to suffer through it."

"Exactly. So why won't you bring me home?"

He paused again. Damn, she was good at making him dig himself into a hole with his words. He brought his can of beer to his lips as he tried to find the best way of getting her off his case.

She observed him curiously, her eyes inexplicably and inevitably drawn to those infuriatingly alluring dog ears perched atop his head. She had yet to decide if they were real, and she honestly believed that it was a question that could not be resolved until she was allowed to touch them for herself. Of course, it was an incredulous idea that he would never permit her to carry through, but a girl could dream.

Throughout the rather insufferable movie—one which had once been entertaining but had been effectively ruined by the viewing of it one too many times on her easily-amused friend's whim—she'd been working up the courage to finally ask just exactly _what_ he was. She was now certain beyond a doubt that he was not human. His claws which glinted in the slender beam of light that filtered through the vertical window shades as he reached for the popcorn nestled between their two sitting bodies attested to this fact. If only she could get a hand on those ever-so-tempting ears!

"What are you staring at, wench?"

Kagome lashed her attention to the TV on which some commercial for another cheesy Disney movie was making its debut, a tinge of pink coloring her cheeks. "Nothing…" she drawled out slowly. Then she realized that he had used a rather rude "pet name" for her and her eyes tapered. "And the name is Kagome. Not bitch. Not wench. Ka-go-me. I thought we've been through this already."

"Whatever wen—" he caught himself when she snorted. "Whatever."

She snickered at his blunder and pitiful cover-up but graciously chose not to dwell on it. Seeing that he was again sufficiently diverted by whatever show was airing on the TV, her hands suddenly shot out of their own accord—which resulted in knocking off the bowl of popcorn in the process of which Inuyasha attempted to gallantly rescue from the floor—to capture his triangular appendages in her fingers. Letting out a yelp of surprise, Inuyasha immediately grabbed her waist and planted her rather ungracefully on the floor. Despite the short time she spent with his ears, however, she'd been satisfied to note that they were indeed real and were as soft and fuzzy as she had previously expected.

"The hell is your problem bitch?!" he snarled, pricks of crimson rising to his ochre irises. His ears were protected from anyone and everyone, especially from an annoying human wench who couldn't seem to keep her hands to herself. He had to admit, nevertheless, that her touch had been gentle and warm, but that was beside the point. The point was that she had touched his ears without permission, and he did not like how much he liked the shiver of pleasure that tickled his spine when she had done so.

"I just wanted to see if they're real," she said innocently, her eyes overflowing with genuine curiosity.

"Of course they're real, you stupid bitch!"

She scoffed indignantly. "Well _excuse_ me. Normally people don't exactly have cat ears—"

"They're dog ears," he grumbled.

She narrowed her eyes and continued, "_dog_ ears on the top of their heads. Just what _are_ you anyway?" Her voice softened ever so slightly at her question, and she cocked her head to the side, her brows furrowed in confusion.

He didn't blow up, which surprised him just as much as it surprised her. Instead, he scooted closer to the edge of the couch, his elbows resting on his thighs and his hands clasped together, as he leaned toward her, almost as if to divulge in an intimate secret. "You know," he murmured, "you humans are really stupid. For so many centuries your kind has believed that you're the only ones capable of intelligence. You don't even know just how many demons have been living among you all this time. You convince yourselves that we don't exist. Let me tell you now, I've been around a lot longer than your whole family line of Higurashi's has."

Her shocked blue eyes widened considerably at this revelation and her jaw refused to function. "You're…you're a demon?"

He smirked, his tawny eyes darkening with malice. "Keep that in mind the next time you have the sudden urge to invade my personal space. That may be the last mistake you ever make."


	9. Deja Vu

**A/N**: Ahh...it's nice to be back. A big thank you to anyone who has not yet given up on me! Haha...yeah. I know I'm horrible. Here is my way of making up for it. Now that I've made revisions to the past chapters to smooth out the continuity, it should be less head-scratching confusion for both you all and for me. I didn't really make any major tweaks that are readily noticeable, but just enough to get past some holes into which I'd dug myself. So yeah. Hope you will all forgive me for my procrastination.

Enjoy, and like always, I'd love to hear from you!

* * *

**FOR THIS PURPOSE**

**Chapter 8: Deja Vu**

Inuyasha was rarely proud of his demon heritage. No, that wasn't true. He was proud of his demon heritage, but he abhorred his half-breed nature. During an age past in which demons ran rampant, it was the human blood coursing through his veins that allowed pure-blooded demons to antagonize and patronize him. It was that blood that caused such humiliation all through his life. Of course, few who sneered at his mixed ancestry survived long after facing his wrath, but it was enough to teach him that having a demon father and a human mother equaled a lifetime of hell for him. Considering he could easily survive for a good couple of millennia, he sometimes wondered if the hell he would have to endure after he died wouldn't be better than his daily misery.

Demons would scoff at his humanity, and the humans—pathetic as they were and are—would either flee from his monstrosity or chase him down with whatever sharp objects they had in their possession.

And then the time came when the humans' interest and undeniable skill in technology caused them to excel in the art of warfare, and items of destruction were created that not even the strongest demons could withstand. Furthermore, their nasty rate of reproduction far exceeded that of the demons, and the demon population soon dwindled into legend.

Of course, that was what the humans thought anyway.

The few demons that were left were obviously the most cunning and powerful of them all. After all, how else could they have survived the sudden and unforgiving scourge? Inuyasha himself had to admit—albeit grudgingly—that if it weren't for his half-brother, he wouldn't still be alive at this moment.

The satisfaction of watching the girl's eyes widen in shock and trepidation sent thrills of arrogance shooting through him. The knowledge that he was feared fueled the embers of his pride and, for a moment, it was as if he had returned to the feudal ages where he once struck terror into many brave souls.

Unfortunately, he wasn't aware that this particular girl would not be so easily frightened away by his theatrics.

Rather than having her shrink away in apprehension, the girl did quite nearly the opposite: she snorted. Whether she was snorting from disbelief that he was a demon or for some other reason, Inuyasha was not certain.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Now would you please grow up?" Kagome said in a dry voice.

Apparently it was the prior. "You think I'm joking, woman?

"No, I don't. I think you're insane actually."

"Considering you're not fully human yourself, you're pretty close-minded."

She wasn't sure if she should laugh or get angry at his statement. In the end, she settled for an incredulous scoff. "How can I not be quote fully human unquote?"

"You're really clueless. All that power on your fingertips and you don't know the first thing about it." He shook his head and laughed without mirth. "I'll bet you don't even know what you are."

"Well, the last time I checked, I am of the species homo sapien."

"Well, I think it's time you checked again."

She would have responded with something witty and utterly shocking, but unfortunately, the phone rang and deprived the author—er, rather Kagome—of the joy of thinking of a fitting retort.

"What?" he barked into the receiver. Kagome winced for whoever was on the other end of the line.

_"Why are you at home, Inuyasha? Shouldn't you be out searching for the girl?"_

Inuyasha's fingers curled into a fist. "Are you checking up on me?"

The voice on the other end chuckled darkly. _"Is there a reason for me to be checking up on you?"_

"No, but you're one twisted bastard so how the hell do I know what's going on in that messed up bundle of shit that passes for a brain of yours?"

_"Eloquent. Where is the girl, Inuyasha?"_

"I don't know. I haven't found her yet."

The man on the other end clicked his tongue. _"Now, Inuyasha. You do know the consequences of lying to me, now don't you?"_

"I'd like to see you try," Inuyasha grumbled, although he had not meant to say it aloud. He hated this man with a passion, but he also had great respect for his power. That was not something Inuyasha admitted to about many people.

_"No, Inuyasha. You most certainly would not like to see me try. I'm sure you still remember what happened last time."_

The half-demon's eyes cringed at the recollection. He looked lost in a wave of nostalgia and when he finally spoke his voice was tired and deflated. "Yeah, I remember."

_"Good. Now, do not take me for a fool, Inuyasha. I know you know where she is. In fact, I can do better. I know that she's in your apartment right now staring at you in confusion with those big brown eyes of hers. I also know that the reason you haven't returned her to me yet is because you want to 'royally piss me off,' I believe were your words. Now that I've been pissed off, it would be most prudent for you to do as I say. Unless, of course, you_ want _something like _that_ to happen again. I'll be more than happy to oblige if that's the case."_

A deep threatening growl emanated from his chest, but both men knew that it was little more than theatrics. Inuyasha's voice was deceptively calm when he responded however. "One of these days you're going to let your guard down and the day that you do will be the day I wring your head from your neck."

_"Of course,"_ replied the voice in an uninterested tone. _"Until that day, however, you will continue to do as I say. Bring her in. Now."_

A soft click on the other end signaled the end of the conversation. "Damn bastard."

He could feel the girl's curious gaze burning into the back of his head. He could feel the tension of unspoken questions vibrating through the air. He could also distinctly feel the guilt unleashing a devastating attack on his brain and pouring into every crevice of his body.

It sounded foolish even in his own ears, but it was the truth. Not only had he grown attached when he never should have, but it was to a girl that he was better off not knowing in the first place.

"Inuyasha? What's going on?"

He closed the short distance between them, and the last thing she recalled seeing before she fell faint to the world was the apologetic look in his eyes.

…

Kikyo stretched lightly, her head tilting to one side then to the other as the discs in her spinal cord snapped into place. Satisfied with the mobility of her joints, she turned to her employer—for lack of a better word—and the annoyance was clear in her voice when she asked, "What is so important, Naraku, that you simply _had_ to call me in?"

He stalked behind her and bent his nose to the crook of her neck. His hot breath irritated the tiny hairs along the base of her neck and sent an involuntary shiver up her back. "Would you believe me if I told you I missed you?"

"Of course," she responded with a roll of her eyes as she slid smoothly out of his range of touch. There was no discernible reason for it, but she suddenly couldn't stand the touch of this man. Strange, when considering that barely three years ago she'd been sharing the same bed as him and enjoying it immensely. "What do you _really _want?"

If he was upset at her not-so-subtle avoidance of him, he did not reveal it. If anything, he seemed amused. "Straightforward as ever I see." His sarcasm did not escape her. Still, she chose not to reply. "It seems that there has been a bit of a problem. It would seem that—" he chuckled to himself as this was most certainly _not_ something he had the privilege of saying every day "—you have failed to eradicate the whole of one family. Apparently, there is still one person—a girl—left. Now how do you propose that we fix this little problem?"

A finely arched eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, but that was all the emotion that she allowed herself to reveal. It was impossible that she had done anything less than perfect. "She dies, of course. I have a reputation to maintain."

He bowed with a smirk. "That was precisely what I was hoping to hear."

"Which family was it?"

"The Matsuri's."

Her eyes narrowed as she sifted through her memory for a recollection of the family. Matsuri's. In those times, she was far less sophisticated than she was now, so much so that she had had to take care of them individually. She had done the mother in twelve years ago, and then the father eight years ago. There were two children. A daughter and a son. Naraku himself had taken care of the son. Then there was the daughter. How had she escaped? Kikyo distinctly remembered killing her and then setting the home on fire. "I killed her," she stated simply.

Naraku nodded. "For all appearances, she was dead. But that was all. Appearances. There is a reason, my dear Kikyo, that one should never consider anyone dead until one sees the body and does an autopsy to ensure that it is indeed the correct person who has died."

"So you are saying that I did not do my job well?"

"No no. I am simply saying that you were fooled by the cunning of man."

"Man is no more cunning than I am."

"Perhaps. However, I don't want you to go after the girl yet. Her training is not something to be trifled with, and while I have no doubts about your ability to take care of this problem, the girl is well-acquainted with the government. You do understand that the last thing we want to do is alert the fools in administration of our workings."

"Then what is the point of calling me here?"

"I just wanted you to keep track of this Sango Matsuri. And well, I would like you to take out one of this country's higher-up. That, for you, ought to be a simple job, is it not?"

"There is no difference between a simple and a so-called difficult job. In the end, they are all still just jobs. Regardless of difficulty, I do everything perfectly."

Her words, though arrogant, held nothing but the truth.

"Indeed, my dear. Indeed."

…

Somewhere in an alley not too far away, a man lay dead in a pool of his own blood.

One bullet, one card, one name: _Inuyasha._

…

This was beginning to get annoyingly repetitive.

Being kidnapped and thrown in an environment of total sensory deprivation once was bad enough, but for it to happen _twice_ must be somebody's idea of a sick and warped joke. Nevertheless, happen twice it did and Kagome once again found herself wallowing in a pit of darkness.

Admittedly, however, it was not the exact same experience.

This time, although it was dark, it was not the same unnatural blackness that had assaulted her senses the first time. In fact, she could vaguely define the outlines of large crates standing off to one side which testified that she was in some sort of storage room. A muffled yet incessant buzz emanated from outside the walls of the edifice, and she could detect the faint scent of sawdust.

No, she was not left completely in the dark. Yet, she couldn't help but think that this was worse. After all, she could have passed off the last time as a strange and demented nightmare, but with the vivid details that greeted her this time, she knew beyond a doubt that this was reality.

She pushed herself up to her feet, keeping the wall against her back, as she tried to understand what had happened. How in the world had she managed to land herself in this predicament again?

Oh yes. She had gone shopping with Eri. It seemed like such a long time ago, but in reality, it'd only been a little over a day. Then the two men in the alley and then Inuyasha had brought her back to his apartment. And then he received that damned phone call and knocked her out. That man had serious problems when it came to decisiveness. First he saves her then he knocks her out.

She bit back a shiver when the flash of his amber eyes came unbidden to her memory. It was with a start that she realized that her first meeting with those eyes was not—as she had initially thought—when their owner saved her from the prison room; those eyes belonged to the man who had knocked her unconscious the first time. Those eyes belonged to the man who had tailed her after school that one day. Those eyes belonged to the man who had started it all, and it was with a sudden passion that she realized that she hated the owner of those eyes.

Even more so, however, she hated herself for being drawn to and loving the eerie, inhuman blaze that emanated from those same eyes.

And even as those thoughts crossed her mind, the object of her thoughts—namely those insufferably addictive golden swirls of his—moved into her line of vision.

"Follow me."

One of her eyebrows began twitching spastically. He knocks her out and puts her in this Godforsaken place and all he can say is "follow me"? No apology, no explanation, just two little words.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Well, that came out a little harsher than she initially intended. It was strange though. She would have expected him to send her a wilting glower or yell at her or something volatile of that sort, but he did none of those. Instead, he was disturbingly calm and the aura that he emitted distressingly serene.

"Follow me," he repeated, this time holding out a clawed hand for her to take.

She eyed him warily as she reviewed her choices in her mind. She could completely ignore him and try to find her own way out. Of course, the whole ignoring him part may be difficult, but she was sure she could think of something. Or she could knock him out and try to find her own way out if he refused to leave her alone. But then there would be the problem of actually knocking a man a foot taller than her and a good deal stronger unconscious. Nope, that wouldn't work. Well, she could always just take his word and hope that he saves her and brings her back home before falling into another 'let's knock Kagome out and kidnap her' stage.

Yet, as incredulous as it was, she felt an unnaturally strong inclination to trust the—on which she had good grounds to assume—mentally unstable Inuyasha. Strange? Yes. Unreasonable? Completely. But what in life ever makes sense anyway?

Before her mind could continue its war with itself, her hand reached out of its own accord and slid into his set of rough, calloused hands. His strong fingers enveloped her small palm and he tugged her gently so that she stood directly in front of him. "Sleep. Everything will be alright when you wake up."

She wanted to tell him that he was crazy, telling her to sleep at a time like this, but her eyelids testified otherwise as they drooped wearily. "Why do you always do this to me?" she mumbled as her mind drifted.

…

Inuyasha jerked up in bed with a start. That was the second time now. The first time he'd been able to brush off simply as the guilt. But to have it happen again…It was unsettling to say the least. "Stupid girl. Why do you have to invade my dreams too? It's bad enough you've made a mess of my already messed up life."

Sharp rapping on the door ripped through the silence of the night. He reached for the handgun tucked beneath his mattress. He certainly had no need of a gun to take a person's life, but bullets were far easier to explain than claw marks.

His mind raced through the possibilities of who would be knocking at his door at this time of night, but he drew a blank. Nobody even knew he existed save Naraku and maybe his half-brother. Who knew if he was even still alive? Who knew if he was still alive and knew that Inuyasha was still alive as well?

Wrong apartment. That was the only logical conclusion. His grip on the gun tightened. He knew this much: whoever it was on the other side of that door, wasn't going to live long enough to tell about it.

Another series of rough knocks. Inuyasha pressed himself up against the door, his sensitive ears picking up the raspy breathing of a man outside. He slowly pulled unlocked the deadbolt to the door and waited patiently for the intruder of his privacy to make his entrance.

A moment's pause as the man outside deliberated the wisdom of entering an apartment in this kind of neighborhood of which the door was unlocked. Curiosity won. "I know you're in there," he called out. "I just want to talk."

_Like hell,_ thought Inuyasha darkly. _That's exactly why you're carrying a gun._

The black tip of a pair of shoes emerged from behind the door.

_Wait for it_.

"Hello? I'm here to help."

Black slacks and a gun pointed forward.

_Wait for it_.

"I just want to ask a couple of questions. That's it. Then I'll be on my way."

A dark purple collared shirt.

_Now!_

Inuyasha knocked the gun out of the man's hands and pulled him into the apartment, slamming the door shut behind him. He shoved him against the wall and thrust the gun against his temple. "Questions huh? Like which way to hell?" he snarled.

The man was surprised, but not in the least bit terrified. Not quite what Inuyasha had expected. "Yasha? It _is_ you!"

Inuyasha loosened his grip, but only just enough to let him breathe. "Who the hell are you?"

"Damn it, Yasha! You don't even remember me?"

Violet eyes. Wild mess of hair gathered into a ponytail. An image surfaced from his memories. A boy with glasses. Lonely violet eyes. Determined. Betrayed. Friend.

"Miroku? What happened to you? You're supposed to be scrawny!"

"Yeah, well you're supposed to be dead!"

Then there was nothing but black.


End file.
